


End of The Line

by A_Whelmed_Marvel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Flashbacks, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, Relationship Negotiation, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Trust Issues, established stucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 06:36:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14806211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Whelmed_Marvel/pseuds/A_Whelmed_Marvel
Summary: “So, that’s the boy you never shut up about huh?” Bucky recalled all the conversation Steve started about his new friend, Tony, about how kind, generous, and smart he was. Actually, thinking about it now, Bucky realized that most of the conversations that they previously had about Steve’s life in the future all starred the genius, billionaire, ex-playboy, philanthropist. About how he had opened his home up to him, how he always checked to make sure that he was comfortable and safe, it was always Tony this, Tony that. “ He’s cuter than you described, way cuter,” Bucky commented as he stared at Tony’s backside as he disappeared beyond the threshold. Steve simply yawned, not really hearing anything that came out of the man in front of him.





	End of The Line

**Author's Note:**

> Hello There! I really hope that you guys enjoy this fic, I worked oh so very hard on it. In fact, it's a miracle how it even got finished at this point in my life seeing as how I'm swamped with exams, homework, and studying. If you notice something off in the pacing, language, or just had some general thoughts, don't be afraid to drop a comment! Constructive criticism is highly encouraged and welcomed with open arms. (Please be kind though, I have a fragile soul) I also want to apologize for some parts you are about to read because I do recognize and realize that some areas my writing is weak and could've been better, but I just really wanted to publish my first work before I get swept under another round of exams and studying. So, anyway, I'll leave you to it. Enjoy! 
> 
> P.S. I'll probably be publishing way more works starting this summer for pride month. Follow me on Tumblr @boy-whelmed for more info!

“What. The. Fuck.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What in the actual fuck, Clint.”

“I said I was sorry, Tony. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

Tony abruptly stood up, threw his red controller back on the couch, and spun around to face the surprised archer. “You deserve to be thrown out a window for this.”

Clint’s eyes widened.

“I mean who cheats at Mario Kart? What you have done is unacceptable and requires a rightful punishment.” Tony ranted madly, waving his arms around in the air as he tried to prove his point.

Steve sat by the kitchen table, holding his mug of coffee tightly to his chest, head resting on his hand, and watched fondly as his boyfriend bickered on with the archer. It was these rare moments, seeing his family in one room altogether, that Steve made sure to capture and lock in a treasure chest found at the bottom of his heart. Most days everyone was busy doing their own shit, whether it was going on month-long missions, or disappearing off to another realm to clean up other species’ messes.

“Looks like you’ve already got it bad and you’ve only been with him for three months now.” Natasha walked in and sat down on a stool next to Steve. Steve smiled affectionately at the reminder of his relationship with the billionaire. He sighed in defeat, eyes falling to his lap.“I do. I really do. I mean I always have, I can just show it now.”

“Blegh, who would’ve thought that Captain America would get all fuzzy and warm over a boy from Manhattan huh?” Bucky entered and took a seat on the other stool next to the now bearded man.

Steve snorted and rolled his eyes. “Don’t act like you haven’t got it just as bad, Buck.” 

“Yeah, Bucky,” Natasha quipped. Bucky stuck his tongue out at her and quickly flipped her off as she did the same.

“No. I’ve got it worse pumpkin, much, much worse,” Bucky said as he turned to Tony then back to Steve. He buried his fingers in the younger man’s light brown hair that, at that point, had grown so long it almost sat at the base of his neck. “How are you doin’, honey?”

Steve opened his mouth to answer.

“What are you guys talking about? I bet it’s about me, it’s me isn’t it?” Tony marched over and forced Bucky’s arms open and buried his face in the man’s neck, almost spilling the long-forgotten cup of coffee that sat on the table, not before pecking the soldier’s lips in greeting.

“Hiya there, sweetheart,” Bucky whispered to Tony and kissed his temple. “Of course we’re talking about you, how could we not when you’re in pants like those?” Bucky winked, ran his hand intimately down the engineer’s back, and rested it on his ass. Tony reeled back a bit and flushed. Bucky’s heart twinged at the sight of the precious red that coated his lover’s cheeks. Regardless of how Tony presented himself, Bucky and Steve knew that it was difficult for him to take compliments seriously. The long-haired brunette carefully stretched his left arm, the bionic one, out to cup Tony’s cheek and bring him back to lay another soft peck on his lips. Tony shivered a little, god he would never get used to Bucky, or Steve kissing him like that. He buried himself back in the soldier’s neck. “Hey, yourself.” 

“Give the Captain there some love too now, won’t ya?” Bucky teased, hand still buried in Cap’s soft hair. Steve sat on the stool next to the couple, smile ever present on his face looking as though he was content to just watch, which he probably was. Bucky and Tony were the most beautiful individuals he’d ever seen, and together? Just gorgeous. 

Tony lit up and eagerly jumped from Bucky’s lap to Steve’s, his eyes sparkled at the sight of the other man who owned his entire heart. He ran his fingers through the Captain’s ashy blonde hair. Steve hummed at the comforting feeling and turned his face so he could kiss Tony’s palm. “Hi, honey,” Steve mumbled, words muffled because of how his face was pushed into Tony’s hand.

Tony pushed their foreheads together. It was as though they had traveled off into their own little world far away from where they were at that moment when they were this close to each other, Tony forgot about everything around him, all he could feel was Steve. “Hi.”

Bucky’s eyes stung at the sight of his, his, boys, god those words felt just as good when he uttered them in the privacy of his own mind as when he let them fall past his lips. He gazed as Tony ran a hand through Steve’s hair, as they were whispering sweet nothings to each other, and he could clearly remember exactly how they got together as if it were yesterday.

_______________

Steve had just gotten assigned a two-week mission in Romania trying to follow up on a lead S.H.I.E.L.D had caught on a hidden HYDRA base that might’ve been harboring Strucker and Loki’s scepter. The Captain tried talking Bucky out of tagging along, feeling as though he wasn’t quite ready to get back out on the field, or out of the tower to be more specific. “You don’t have to do this, Buck, you’ve got nothing to prove to me, or to anybody else for that matter,” he claimed his jaw clenched in sureness.

But, the older super soldier was insistent that Steve not even think about leaving the tower without him, “Don’t you even dare, punk, you know that there’s no way I’m letting your dumb ass out of my sight any time soon,” Bucky warned, holding both Steve’s hands tightly in his own, turning his knuckles white. Steve, staring deep into Bucky’s insistent eyes, had no choice but to accept the fact that he was going to have a designated partner from now on, and he, unsurprisingly, found no problem with that whatsoever.

________________

Romania turned out to be a disaster, kind of.

The pair, plus a particularly quiet Iron Man, ended up not exactly locating Strucker, or the scepter, but, Steve did think that they might have discovered another lead, saying something about how he got one of the men that was securing the place to spill information about Strucker hiding out in some remote country named Sokovia.

Bucky didn’t exactly seem like he was paying attention as Steve was running everything down for him. He was just so, so, tired. The ex-assassin never imagined what the effects would be of him holding a weapon again. Violent pictures, images, and visions of people with no recognizable faces appeared in his mind just like they did in his dreams, only this time he was wide awake. And all he could hear were the noises they made as he snapped their necks with his naked hands, the muffled struggling that abruptly turned into immediate silence. All he could smell was the iron of the blood that sprouted from their bodies as he ripped limbs off of their owners, and all he could feel was… nothing, at that moment, sitting there on the couch, listening to Steve ramble about their next plan of attack, he could feel nothing Agony? Pain? Longing to change everything? Sure, to a degree. But, those feelings were so constant that they became Bucky’s normal, so he felt absolutely nothing.

Steve sat on the couch next to his best friend and lover. He noticed the glaze that coated the brunettes ice blue eyes, of course, he noticed. All he could do though was reach out with his hand and intertwine their fingers together hoping and praying that Bucky would realize that Steve is right there with him, that he was safe, that Steve would do everything in his power to make things okay again, that he wasn’t alone.

That night Bucky was a whimpering mess, twisting and turning, attempting to violently shake away the nightmares. But he couldn’t, he couldn’t forget the way people’s bodies felt as they went limp in his arms, or as they fell to the ground from afar. Those were forever branded in his soul and he couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe he deserved it. After all, he and the Winter Soldier are one in the same, aren’t they?

After several attempts at falling asleep Bucky shook his sheets off and stomped out of the bedroom, leaving Steve alone on the right side of the bed. He wandered aimlessly around the huge tower just trying to rid his mind of unwanted thoughts. He noticed the huge windows that ran along the walls of the common area, the enormous mountain of old DVDs that sat in a pile by an equally large television. He had heard that the team enjoyed collecting DVDs even though the A.I, JARVIS, had the ability to play any and all movies they wanted, including the ones that weren’t even out in cinemas yet. He enjoyed skimming his fingertips on the intricate design of the tiles on some walls (What? Steve had taught him some things.) Bucky touched almost everything with his right hand, making sure to tuck his left one deep into his hoodie pocket. The sensation of feeling something, anything, comforted him, reminded him that he was here, somewhat alive.

The brunette kept walking around, exploring the tower when he heard a booming crash followed by an anger-filled, “Oh fucking hell!” An alarm blazed in his head, causing him to grab whatever was near him, it was a closet door that he ripped from its hinges, to use as a weapon. His heart beat slowly, as it was conditioned to, and he waited, keeping his eyes and ears peeled open.

“Sergeant Barnes, if I may be of assistance, that noise you heard was simply Mr.Stark in the kitchen attempting to brew up his tenth cup of coffee today. There is nothing to worry about, or rip off a door for.” JARVIS’ voice boomed through the room. Bucky hesitantly lowered his arms, and when he realized that he was actually holding a broken door, he awkwardly tried fitting it back into its place.

The soldier, with a little more meandering, found the owner of the voice; was this actually the first time he’s seen Stark without his armor on since Steve brought him back a month ago? Bucky stared at the man’s back that was currently sucking on his thumb.

Tony popped his thumb out of his mouth and turned around as soon as he heard footsteps behind him, Jesus he didn’t think he would wake anybody from this floor. Before he completely faced the owner of the voice, he put on the best smile he could manage on an hour of sleep. Tony’s heart dropped to his stomach as soon as he made out the sharp features on the bystander's face, the long, dark hair, blue eyes, defined chin, shit. “Oh, hi there, you must be the notorious James Buchanan Barnes I keep hearing about,” the billionaire stated. Tony’s smile tightened.

Bucky’s eyes glanced at the man standing in front of him, up and down. He was wearing plaid pajama pants that hung loose and low on his hips, his upper half: completely stark naked, exposing lean abs and the flashy blue light in the center of his chest. His eyes darted back to Stark’s face. His beard was starting to grow beyond what Bucky usually saw in the videos he’s previously watched. Bucky especially focused on those widened doe eyes, gleaming in the dim kitchen light, probably surprised at seeing another soul awake at this hour. Bucky’s tongue flicked out and licked his lips. Intriguing. 

“Depends on who’s asking,” Bucky finally answered, the right corner of his mouth turning slightly up.

Tony chuckled and gulped. “I’m sorry, how rude of me, I think proper introductions are in order here. My name is Tony, Tony Stark.” Tony went to go shake the other man’s hand.

“Don’t move another inch.” Bucky’s voice dropped almost an octave lower and morphed into something more commanding, on the brink of vicious.

Tony drew his eyebrows in, confused. He placed his hand instinctively on the center of his chest.“Wha-”

“I said don’t move. And for the record, I know who you are, probably know more than you’re aware of actually.” Bucky smirked.

Tony’s breathe caught in his throat and he stood as still as he could. He couldn’t think of what to say. It was as though his brain lost the ability to string words together.

“You’re surrounded by glass, you idiot.” Bucky pointed to the other man’s feet. The floor around the engineer was indeed covered in many big and small shards of shiny glass.

Tony glanced at the floor and then back up at the soldier. He took a deep breath, gained his composure back, and grinned. “I’ll have you know that I’m actually the smartest one in this building, well unless you count Bruce, but you know, he’s not here currently.”

Bucky walked closer to the engineer, squatted down while grabbing the fabric of his sweatpants by his thighs pulling them up, and started picking up glass pieces from the ground and chucking them into the garbage bin across the room, each piece landed where it was meant to go, of course. “Well you don’t seem to be so dang smart to me, you tried to walk on a pile of glass after all.” He stared up at the man in front of him through his long eyelashes.

“I, uh, I have an excuse,” Tony replied crossing his arms and pouting, trying not to show how flustered he was at the moment. God, what was wrong with him? “It is three in the morning … say what are you doing up at this hour huh, new super soldier man? Super soldier numero dos?” Tony had no filter for his mouth anymore. He didn’t want this. In fact interaction at this hour was the last thing he wanted. Ever. 

Bucky gazed up at the man and tilted his head, “Why are you asking me? You were the one trying to make coffee at this hour, darling.” His eyes darted to the full coffee pot behind Tony. Tony’s mouth parted open a teeny bit.

“Bucky?” Steve walked into the kitchen rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What happened? Are you okay? You just disappeared from the bed and I- oh, h-hi, Tony.” 

Tony quickly turned to face the man that entered, “Oh err, hello there Cap, sorry, did I wake you? I just made a huge mess because I broke a mug and I-” Tony bit his bottom lip and his eyes flicked down to Bucky’s face, which was still staring at him, a smirk plastered clearly on display. “I’m just going to uh..” Tony jumped away and hastily fled the room, barely missing a shard of glass.

Steve gazed at the floor.

“So, that’s the boy you never shut up about huh?” Bucky recalled all the conversation Steve started about his new friend, Tony, about how kind, generous, and smart he was. Actually, thinking about it now, Bucky realized that most of the conversations that they previously had about Steve’s life in the future all starred the genius, billionaire, ex-playboy, philanthropist. About how he had opened his home up to him, how he always checked to make sure that he was comfortable and safe, it was always Tony this, Tony that. “ He’s cuter than you described, way cuter,” Bucky commented as he stared at Tony’s backside as he disappeared beyond the threshold. Steve simply yawned, not really hearing anything that came out of the man in front of him.

________________

Bucky threw himself on the couch in Tony’s lab immediately the next day, dressed in an old hoodie and loose shorts. Tony jumped, startled at the sudden intrusion, from where he was sat working on his gauntlets.

“What are you doing?” He asked the newly-present man. He squinted Barnes’ way, suspicious.

Bucky shrugged lazily. “Sitting,” he answered while pulling out a book from gods know where. Bucky didn’t see it since he was instantly drawn into the land of Lothlórien, but Tony smiled a soft, but present smile.

________________

And it went on like that for a few weeks, Bucky came and made himself comfortable on the couch in the lab sometimes he brought a sandwich or a plate of food along with him to give to the busy engineer. He didn’t know what it was about the engineer, but only his simple presence made Bucky’s anxiousness lessen a few notches as if he was sucking it into him with his innocent gaze, or banging it out with every noise he made when metal met metal. Maybe it was the sounds that Tony made when he finally figured something out, quite gasps sometimes, loud screams of success other times, it was extremely entertaining to witness, not to mention cute as hell.

“Hey, Bucky?” Tony asked one day when Bucky was curled up on his couch holding a book, wearing a black Stark Enterprises sweatshirt.

“Hmm?” Bucky hummed.

Tony twiddled his thumbs and shyly chewed down on his bottom lip. Bucky shivered as a jolt of something he couldn’t quite name went down his spine when he saw the look on Tony’s face. “St...Steve told me that..that your arm was bugging you lately? He said that you were muttering something about it today while you guys were sparring. He asked me if I could check in with you,” Tony supplied.

Bucky abruptly sat up causing his book to land on the floor, a quite, but noticeable, alarm ringing in his head. “You don’t have to worry about that Tony. I know how busy you are and I don’t know if I’m ready… ready for someone to… touch it yet,” Bucky answered his gaze flicking around anywhere but the other man’s face.

Tony stood from his chair in the middle of the room and walked determinately to the soldier. He sat down next to him, knee to knee, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Bucky sucked a deep breath in and turned to face the smile of the man. The warmth of Tony’s hand steadily flowed into Bucky. 

“I want to know, Soldier boy, so tell me. I never said that I wanted to poke around in there…just yet. I just want to hear what’s up.” His eyes twinkled.

Bucky nodded once, relishing in the sudden comfort flowing from the engineers hand, he cleared his throat, swallowed down the great unease and began, “Well for one, the-uhh..the reaction time is off, it’s why Steve’s punk ass,” Bucky chuckled a bit, nervous tremors clear in his body, “Beats me so often when we spar, don’t let him tell you any differently.” Tony laughed eyes crinkling at the edges, but his fingers twitched as well, almost as though he wanted to pull away.

Bucky shut his eyes before he could continue. He tried as best as he could to remind himself that Tony wasn’t HYDRA, that he wouldn’t punish him for damaging the arm. He wouldn’t be forced in the chair anymore. He wouldn't. He wouldn’t He wouldn’t. Steve said he was safe. He was safe. He’s safe now.

Bucky’s strife with his inner thoughts was obvious to Tony. He could see the slight sweat beads that coated the ex-soldiers temples. He noticed how hard his hands were clenched and how he fisted his left arm harder than his right one, and how he would grind it as well. He noted how the other man dug his nails as hard as he could on to the palm of his right hand. How his legs were bouncing steadily up and down. Tony saw all of the above. So, he placed his own hand softly on Bucky’s right one and ran his thumb back and forth over the knuckles that carried small cuts and bruises probably from sparring with Steve. Tony shook a little frightened of the fact that this amount of intimacy would be unwelcome or unacceptable seeing as how Bucky was in a solid, strictly monogamous relationship with the Captain. But, even so, Tony didn’t dare pull away. He wouldn’t. Not until Bucky pushed him away. 

Bucky didn’t. Push Tony away, that is. In fact, the skin on skin contact allowed him to push through his constricting thoughts and keep going. It allowed him to keep unraveling himself to a person he hardly even knew. “Also some-sometimes this odd… painful sensation flares up at the base. The pain varies, most times it’s manageable, but once,” Bucky stopped to take a breathe and squeezed his eyes shut, Tony squeezed his shoulder assuring the man that he was safe. “One time the pain was so excruciating that I passed out.” Tony’s eyes widened. As soon as Bucky recognized the conflict building up in Tony’s face everything he was feeling previously, the pain, the anger, the fear, all of it just washed away, and all he could think of was the struggle that painted itself on the engineer’s visage.“But! But!” Bucky tried to think of something to reassure the engineer. “It happened when Stevie first brought me back, so don’t worry.” Bucky put his hands up in the air, gesturing at Tony to calm down.

“Bucky! What? Of course, I worry, how… how could you think that I won’t worry? God, why didn’t you say anything sooner? I would’ve found a way to help to..to fix it. I mean I know we haven’t known each other well, but I would expect that by now you would trust me enough to help you whenever you need it. I can do that you know.” A corner of Tony’s lip turned down a notch. Bucky immediately noticed and grabbed Tony’s chin in between his index finger and thumb and turned it to look him right in the eyes.

“I know you would’ve, doll, but I’m doing fine, I promise, it was just a scare and a bit of pain here and there, and I didn’t wanna bother you. Plus, you do realize that the first time I ever saw you was that time in the kitchen when you broke the mug and ran away as soon as you saw Stevie, which really was only a few weeks ago.”

Bucky grinned at the steadily rising blush on the engineer's cheeks. God this man was probably the cutest and most beautiful thing he’s ever laid his eyes on. Right up there with Steve. Steve was different though, Steve had sparkling blue eyes and always neatly combed hair, a smile that’ll probably have you wishing that you could’ve brought some sunglasses to shield your eyes from the brightness. His Captain smelled like a fresh breeze and pines on a spring day. Steve made Bucky’s heart burn wildly from the inside, and obviously, it’s been that way since way back before the war. Bucky loved when he used to reach down to softly brush his lips on Steve’s forehead or when he’d have to gently caress the smaller boy’s hand in fear of breaking his fragile bones. But, Bucky’s not one to be ashamed to admit that he’s absolutely crazy about the fact that Steve has a couple of pounds and inches on him now, and he loves, loves, it when Steve uses all his strength to push and hold him down and fuck him fiercely into the mattress.

Tony though?

Tony’s cute. Bucky adores the man’s tiny lean-muscled frame, and he yearns for when he stumbles over his words after he receives a genuine compliment (only when he’s alone with someone. It’s more personal that way). Tony’s hair was soft and mostly unkempt unless he had to be in front of cameras. Tony’s dark chocolate colored eyes sucked Bucky into a deep warm void and failed to ever let him go. Bucky loved Steve, he really did, but he sure wouldn’t mind seeing Tony moaning his name as he wrecked him over and over again with just his tongue. He wasn’t ashamed, the idea of being with more than one person doesn’t frighten. It wasn’t foreign, and it didn’t disgust him at all, he’s been alive for well over a hundred years for fuck’s sake, he knew that his heart was big enough to love two different people. Although he was brainwashed for the most part of the last seventy years, there were some periods of time that he was himself again and during that time he was lonely and he was missing Steve, no one could blame him for getting around.

“... and I know people, not to mention the media, say that I’m selfish and that I only care about myself, but really that’s not true, I care about you guys so much and I always want to help… Bucky? Hello, earth to Buckeroo.”

Bucky snapped out of his long daze. “Yes?”

Tony tilted his head, wondering what was going through the other man’s head. “I was just saying that you should come by whenever you’re ready. No rush.”

Bucky smiled at the fact that Tony was willing to go at his pace, he was willing to do so much for him even if they’d only known each other for a handful of day. This man had absolutely no idea what he did to him, what he made him feel like.

Bucky stood up. He placed a large hand on Tony’s head and ran it through the thick, luscious, brown curls. “I’ll be sure to come by,” Bucky winked, “See you doll.” He strutted out, leaving an open-mouthed Tony behind.

_________________

Steve clenched Bucky’ shirt in one hand and ripped it right off the super soldier’s body. “Damn, Stevie, slow down there, babe.”

Steve growled, an animal like sound ripping from deep within him. “You try slowing down when your boyfriend walks around in a shirt two sizes too small,” Steve complained.

Bucky groaned and clenched Steve’s arms, spun them around and shoved him hard onto the wall of the gym. He lined his body up with the younger blonde’s, trapping him. He rose to onto the tips of his toes. “You think I have to imagine? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I already have a boyfriend who does just that, Captain,” Bucky whispered. He dragged his teeth along the shell of Steve’s ear, darting his tongue out along the way. Steve shivered at that last word, he doesn’t think that he’ll ever get used to Bucky calling him that and it was so much more worse on the field when they’re fighting whatever alien race decided to invade Earth that day. He clenched his eyes shut, and threw his head back as Bucky pressed sweet kisses along his neck.

“I’m not as irresistible as you, Buck, you know that,” Steve grumbled, breathless. He moved his hands to tangle his fingers in Bucky’s sweaty hair.

“Not as irresistible as me, huh? Why don’t I show you just how irresistible you are, honey. Show you just how I can never get enough of you.” Bucky lowered himself to his knees, running his hands down Steve’s clothed chest, tweaking his nipples on the way. The brunette palmed Steve’s hard on through his pants. Steve jerked his hips, pushing into Bucky’s hands.

“Impatient, aren’t we?”

Steve placed his hand on top of Bucky’s to add to the pressure. “Get on with it, Bucky, please.”

Bucky swatted Steve’s hand away immediately. “No way. Don’t you dare move or touch, Stevie.”

He reached for the button that stood in his way. The button was cold to the touch. Bucky halted a thought hitting him like a crashing wave.“Think you could come just like this, from my hand touching you through your pants. That’d be a sight to behold, watching you come undone in your underwear.”

Steve gasped, hands pulling at Bucky’s shoulders, trying to urge him back up. When he couldn’t seem to do just that, he fell roughly onto his knees and placed his mouth next to Bucky’s ear. “I could come from just your voice.” His voice was wrecked, dripping with need and want. Bucky’s eyes widened in surprise and his mouth fell slack. He didn’t know what to say to that, so instead, he growled and shoved Steve onto the floor, grabbed the sides of Steve’s face tightly, and pulled him in for a searing kiss, tongue battling for dominance.

Steve whined, fuck, Bucky was so much, he was almost too much. He made Steve feel as though he was everything the world had to offer on a silver platter.

“That’s because you are, babydoll,” Bucky interrupted.

Oh. Steve had said that out loud.

His eyes flicked down to the obvious tent in his pants. Bucky chuckled at the younger man’s obvious impatience. “Don’t worry, baby, going to take care of you real good.” Bucky winked. Bucky freed Steve from the confinement of his tight underwear, in fact, he completely pushed Steve’s pants down to pool around his ankles. “Spread those pretty legs a bit for me, sunshine,” Bucky demanded. Steve complied immediately, opening his legs as wide he could with his pants still wrapped around his ankles. Bucky skimmed the tips of his fingers up the inside of Steve’s thighs and pressing sweet barely there kisses on the blonde’s smooth skin up until he reached Steve’s defined vee..“Jesus,” Steve almost screamed.

“I’m afraid not Steve, just little old me.” Bucky licked the tip, hollowed his mouth, preparing to take Steve deeper than he ever had before.

“Hey, Bucky, have you noticed that every time- oh my! I… uh.” Tony let go of the tablet he was holding, allowing it to crash on the floor, and threw his hands on his eyes, shielding him from the sight of his friends, a dark red blush rising on his neck.

Steve’s eyes widened in horror. He frantically tried pushing Bucky away and pulling his pants up at the same time. “Oh my god! Tony! I-I can explain… It isn’t what it looks like,” Steve tried explaining.

“Really? Cause it looked like you had your dick out ready for Bucky to deep throat the hell out of you.”

Bucky, the fucker, smirked, a line of spit running down his chin. He sat down comfortably on the floor, chest naked as if he wasn’t just about take Steve down his throat. “Hi there, gorgeousness, how’s it going?”

“Is Cap decent?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, all good Tony, you can uncover your eyes now.” Tony peaked through a slit in between his intertwined fingers.

“I’m so sorry that you had to see that Tony,” Steve expressed.

Tony composed himself and smiled, “No worries, Cap, I’ve been caught doing much worse than giving a blowjob,” he winked.

“What did you wanna tell me, sweetheart?” Bucky asked, bringing the subject back to Tony’s earlier remark.

“Oh yeah.” Tony picked the tablet off of the floor. He tapped it a number of times and turned it to Bucky and Steve. “I actually wanted to say that I went over the scans I took on your arm, and I might, no, I know what the problem is, and if you wanna swing by the lab sometime soon then I can… I can fix it, I’m pretty sure.” Tony ranted a blush still obviously present on his cheeks.

Bucky’s face crumpled, his mouth parted slightly. He brought his knees into his chest, the confidence he previously emitted washed away. Steve noticed the sudden change in his aura and walked up behind him, set his hands on his shoulders and squeezed in assurance. He kissed the top of his head and whispered something in his ear.

Bucky’s head popped back up from where it was hiding in the crook of his arm.

Tony stared at the couple exchanging sweet words, and something foreign bubbled in the pit of his stomach. He pushed it aside for the moment, and instead anticipated Bucky’s answer.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

Bucky nodded firmly, “Okay.”

Tony nodded back once in acknowledgment and quickly left the gym just as fast as he came in.

Steve’s eyes trailed behind the exiting figure. As soon as Tony’s body was completely out of sight, Steve’s eyes fell to the ground, and he sighed.

“So, how long have you been in love with him for, and until when were you going to wait to tell me?” Bucky interrupted Steve’s train of thought. No, he didn’t just interrupt it, he completely demolished it by standing right smack down in the middle of the train tracks. He held his robot arm in front of the train and allowed his to clash and flip over him.

Steve turned swiftly to Bucky, distress written all over his face, he found the man resting his head on his hand a smile slightly working its way onto his face. “Bucky, I’m not-”

“Save it punk, I know that look miles away. It’s how you’ve always looked at me after all. So, how long have you been in love with him?” Bucky repeated. 

 

Steve sighed, his shoulders sagged, and he looked down at the floor, defeated. “Since New York.”

“Hmm.”

Steve snapped his head up to stare at Bucky. “Bucky, I can explain. I-I-I almost lost him then, and- and we fought so much before the battle. He flew that-that nuke into the wormhole and I was so, so, so, so scared, and after losing you, I couldn’t, I couldn’t.” Bucky immediately stood up when hearing his lover’s anguish. Steve was violently shaking, recalling the memory of Tony’s near death. The brunette grabbed his hands and squeezed them. “It’s okay, baby, you’re okay, look, you’re right here alive and so is Tony, you’re both okay.”

Steve stopped to take a deep breath and gain his composure once again. “He fell, Bucky, he fell all the way down and his heart, it stopped for a minute or so and I thought I lost him. The way he looked at me afterward, I knew, I just knew that... that's when I realized that he- that I loved him. That I love him, and I just kept falling harder after that.” Steve concluded. He dropped his head in his hands. 

Bucky just stared. And Steve couldn’t decipher the emotion on his face.

“I love you, though! I always have, Bucky, you know that. I mean you should know that.” Steve guaranteed. “It’s just Tony-” 

Bucky smiled. “I know, Stevie, I know.” He stroked Steve’s chin and raised it high. “You really do deserve all the love in the whole world, you know that baby?”

Steve scrunched his eyebrows, not following. “I don’t understand, Buck. What do you mean?”

“I mean, Tony loves you too,” Bucky explained.

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. Of course, he doesn’t. And even if he did, I have you back now.”

Bucky rolled his eyes at Steve’s naivety. “And? Why does having me not allow you to have Tony?”

“What are you saying here, Bucky?” Steve pulled away a little bit. “Are you saying that you’re going to end our relationship because I- I fell in love with Tony? Buck, god, it was when you were in Russia somewhere brainwashed.” Steve’s face lit up with a new realization, and his eyes stung. “Oh my god, Bucky, is this about me? Do you- do you just not want me anymore? You don’t - you don’t love me?”

Bucky cupped Steve’s face and dragged him in for a hard kiss on the mouth to stop him from talking and to calm down a bit. “Stevie, shush honey, sshh.” He swiped his thumb back and forth on Steve’s cheek

Steve calmed down and began to breathe normally.

“I love you, sunshine, I’ve always loved you, I thought you knew that?”

Steve nodded allowing Bucky’s words to drain a bit of his anguish.

“That’s not what I’m saying at all. I think I’d rather have both my arms ripped off before I give you up. Never again, sunshine, never letting go again.” Bucky mumbled, stroking Steve’s hair.

“Jesus, believe me when I find whoever or whatever the hell made you so insecure I’ll be sure to crush them with the heaviest black boots I have.”

Steve giggled, sniffling in the process.“Well, I guess you’re going to be digging up some graves then.”

“That’s not funny, Steve.” Bucky pouted. “First of all, I swear to you that Tony has been pining after you for who knows how long now. I can tell. He stares at you when you drink juice in the morning for all the gods’ sakes and I mean who can blame him when you’re all sweaty after your run, not to mention that pretty mouth of yours..”

Steve screwed his face, “How does that-?”

“Anyways! What I meant by saying “Why does having me not allow you to have Tony as well?” was, why can’t you have both Tony and I at the same time?”

Steve screwed his face in confusion some more, “How would that work exactly?”

Bucky only grinned a wolfish grin and Steve blinked innocently in return.

________________

“You’re coming with,”

“Bucky I don’t know if that’s such a good-”

________________

“Tony,” Bucky interrupted as soon as he saw the engineer, he walked in as if he would rather be anywhere else but there, which, honestly, he would. Tony was prepping a chair, clearing things away from the table on his right side, and only leaving items on that he needed.

“I brought Steve with me, I hope that’s okay. He’ll be quiet, I promise.”

Tony turned to face the soldiers that had just barged in and smiled tightly. “Hey guys, of course, that’s okay, why, wouldn’t that be okay? Anyways, Buck, I need you to sit down right here.” Tony patted the chair. Bucky stared at the chair, Steve came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. Tony visibly flinched. Steve leaned down to press his lips on Bucky’s shoulder,“You can do this, sweetheart, I know you can,” he whispered. Bucky stood and absorbed the comfort Steve emitted from his touch. The super soldier finally moved to sit in the chair.

Tony nodded at Bucky. “You’ll be okay, Buckeroo, I promise on my little engineer heart.” Tony placed his hand on his chest, right above where his heart sat. “Uh, Steve, if you could just stand on his other side, you know the one with the arm that isn’t bionic.”

“Bucky.” Tony leaned in and stared into Bucky’s eyes, “I’m not going to sugar coat this a bit, you deserve more than that. This is going to hurt a shit ton at first. I need to disconnect your nerves from the cords in the arm, hopefully, after that point, you won’t feel anything anymore. After that’s completed, I’m going to try and remove these small discs that I found in your arm.” 

Bucky stared, confused.

“Oh that’s right, I never got around to telling you about them. I just found you and uh Steve in the, yeah okay. Anyways, there are several of these small two-centimeter reinforced disks that have been physically connected to your nerves, a creation of HYDRA of course. They rest in quite a few places on, well in, your arm.” Tony spun around in his chair and pulled up an exact holographic projection of Bucky’s arm, the only difference was that this hologram contained around fifty red spots that indicated a presence of the reinforced disks.

“These discs were placed in case of an emergency, they were created so that they go off and inject you with a serum that’s sole purpose is to hurt you. I don’t quite understand how they work yet, the biological aspect of it is probably going to be better explained when we get Bruce down here, but, my best guess is that Hydra is remotely controlling the times they go off from wherever the hell they’re squandering.” Tony explained.

Steve’s mouth fell open. “You were in pain? How come you never said anything? I thought it was just the reaction time being a fraction off that was bugging you?”

Bucky shook his head. “God, just when I think that I’m rid of them, the come back and bite me in the ass again. Go ahead Tony, do whatever you need, I trust you to take care of me.” He ignored Steve’s outburst.

Tony blushed. “Of… of course I will.”

It’s safe to say that they were not prepared in any way shape or form for Bucky’s screams. They ripped through his chest and erupted from his throat. One scream after another. His yells shattered Tony into a tiny million pieces, it hurt him immensely to see his friend like that. But, Tony had to stop the constant pain, he was determined, he tried to push through the yelling, reminding himself that this was temporary. Steve’s hand ached from how hard Bucky clenched it in his own as if his life depended on this one connection.

Tony kept poking and prodding in the arm, and he eventually pulled away and wiped the built-up sweat on his forehead. “Okay, I think the worst part is over now.”

Bucky panted, dry tear tracks that started off from the corner of his eyes were drawn on the side of the face. He looked up at Steve and found tears in his eyes as well. “Aw, you crying for me, Stevie?” he teased, exhausted.

“Shut up, Bucky, shut up,” Steve replied, falling to his knees and burying his head in Bucky’s lap. Bucky pet Steve’s hair softly. Steve never thought that he’d ever see Bucky lose everything like he just did then, his whole life he’s seen Bucky as the strongest and brightest man he ever met, even after he found him in the HYDRA experimentation base in Austria vulnerable and violated by who knows what, Bucky showed no signs of weakness after that, no signs of falling apart. But right then, at that moment, it dawned on Steve just how much Bucky had gone through, and how much he was never around for, all the times Bucky’s woken up from Cryo only to be stuffed back in like an animal, the times he must’ve woken up and found himself lost in the middle of nowhere, all the times he’s probably cried himself to sleep at night, and it made him sick to his stomach.

“Okay.” Tony said, sounding defeated, damn he thought this would be a lot easier, boy was he wrong,“I’ll give you some time to recover before starting the second half. I’m just going to.” Tony pointed behind him gesturing that he was going to give them some alone time. He turned around and began to walk.

“Tony?” Bucky slurred, his vision blurry.

“Yeah?”

“Please don’t leave,” Bucky begged.

“Yeah Tony, please don’t leave.” Steve’s head poked out from Bucky’s lap.

Tony turned around and gazed at the super soldiers. He found raw emotion in their eyes, demanding and need, and longingness? He sucked in a deep breathe and hesitantly walked over to them. “I’m right here.” He stood stiffly beside the chair, a clear space between him and Bucky.

“Touch me, Tony, please, please, I need- I need you to touch me, I can’t- I can’t reach for you. Please, Tony,” Bucky begged, urgency dripping from his tongue. His fingers twitched, itching for Tony’s warmth.

Tony glanced over at Steve, unsure. Steve nodded. Tony reached out and placed a hand on Bucky’s neck and the other on his knee.

The three of them stood like that for a few minutes. That is until Steve placed his own hand on Tony’s, the one that was resting on Bucky’s knee. A thread of electricity ran up Tony’s spine leaving a warm trail behind it. Jesus. Tony stared at Steve’s hand, at both his hands. A wave of ineffable emotion built up in Tony’s chest. He tried pushing it down, he really did.

Tony let go of both their hands abruptly, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I can’t do this.” He shook his head and straightened back up.

“What? Tony, what are you-” Steve began to stand up.

“I’ll send Bruce down here in a few minutes with all the appropriate information to finish the procedure.”

“Tony?” Steve called, pulling his head up.

Tony hurriedly ran out of his own lab.

“Stevie, what the hell did you do?”

________________ 

Tony fucking hated everything. He really did. He hated this tower, he hated the Avengers, he hated the fact that he had to wake up every morning and go through all his bullshit. He hated Steve, he hated his big adorable smile, he hated his freaking blue eyes, and his freaking perfect blonde hair, and the way he always smelled so good, he hated the fact that ever since the first time he laid his eye on him, a weird thing happens in his chest whenever he’s around him, but most of all, Tony hated his oaf of a boyfriend. Tony absolutely despised Bucky, from the bottom of his heart.

Okay, he didn’t actually hate Bucky. Maybe even the exact opposite, but that fact was irrelevant.

Tony let out a frustrated breath as he marched out of the tower to god knows where. He just really needed to clear his head.

What were they thinking? Why would they do that to him? How could they think that what they did in the lab was okay? How could they make him feel like that? Like he had a shot with either of them.

Tony scrubbed a hand down his face. He could pinpoint exactly when the first time he realized that he fell in complete, and utterly foolish love with Steve. It wasn’t a big dramatic realization, no. On the contrary, the feeling washed over Tony like a tsunami on a simple Thursday night, a night like any other. It was before Steve decided to flee without so much as leaving a single note to go off and find Bucky.

The team had gathered in the common room to watch a movie after a day of fighting yet another round of Doom’s play toys as Tony likes to call them. Star Wars: A New Hope played on the enormous screen as sounds of lightsabers and blasters filled the room. Thor, as per usual, was stuffing popcorn while commentating vehemently about his new favorite character, this time it was the “Great big furry brown Titan who cannot recite a single word.” Natasha sat curled up at the edge of the couch running her hand through Clint’s hair which rested on her lap. Steve sat with his legs folded under him on the armchair, his eyes concentrated on the screen, watching as Han Solo bickered with Princess Leia for the umpteenth time. Tony, sitting comfortably on his own couch across from Steve, had his eyes focused elsewhere besides the television. He was watching the way the light bent around the structure of Steve’s face, how it emphasized the color of his eyes making them look more bluer than ever, he noticed the softness of his hair when it wasn’t patted down perfectly. Most of all Tony took note of Steve Rogers in the tightest white shirt he’s ever seen, almost leaving nothing to the imagination. The outline of his abs was on display and every time he chose to lift or shift his arms his shirt rose and revealed a tiny sliver of skin, not so tiny that Tony couldn’t notice the well-defined vee that led southwards. But, even noticing all of that wasn’t what made Tony realize that he was in love with the Captain. It was when Steve turned to catch Tony’s gaze, he held it for what seemed to be hours before simply throwing Tony a delicate smile and turned back to the screen.

Those fleeting seconds are what threw Tony’s heart into overdrive, are what caused him to clutch his chest because he assumed he was having a panic attack due to the fact that something he never felt before was washing over him. That’s when he realized “Oh god, I love him.” Don’t get him wrong, he’s always found the Captain attractive, and sure before he wouldn’t have said no if Steve had shoved him up against the wall and asked if he could have him. But after those precise three seconds, after that exact smile, he wanted everything from the super soldier. He wanted to cuddle in bed after sex, he wanted to be there when Steve got back from S.H.I.E.L.D missions to eagerly greet him when the quinjet lands, he wanted to sit down while having dinner and just talk about how their day has been. Mostly he just wanted Steve. And a few months after New York, he really felt like he had a chance, a somewhat slim chance, yet a chance nonetheless.

Suddenly, Bucky was emphatically drawn in the picture.

Tony never thought he’d like Bucky at all. Especially after the first time, he saw Cap curled up with him in the hospital bed the first day he arrived. He was heading down to the med bay to throw a few choice words at Steve after not having seen him for a month and maybe even finally hurl himself onto the almost-centenarian and smash their lips together when he saw them soundly sleeping soundly together in one of the beds. Steve’s arm looped around Bucky’s stomach holding on for dear life as if he’d disappear for the fourth and final time if he let go. Tony’s heart felt like it had been violently ripped out of his chest and then ran over by a bulldozer a good twenty-three times. He clenched his jaw, swallowed down his feelings, and reluctantly walked out. He needed to ignore whatever was happening to him. Steve’s happiness was all that mattered after all.

After that, he did his best to avoid Steve Rogers and James Barnes. But he should’ve known that he’d eventually bump into him, locking himself in his lab could only achieve so much.

The first time Tony properly laid his eyes on Bucky, when he didn’t have greasy hair covering his entire face, was at three a.m. in the kitchen while he attempted to refill his coffee mug for the tenth time that day. The engineer thought that he had the whole day perfectly planned out in order to keep human interaction to the bare minimum, but he never expected anyone to be up so early in the morning. When Bucky Barnes walked through the threshold and into the kitchen after he had shattered a mug or whatever it was he was holding, well shit, Tony really never expected that. The only way to properly describe how Bucky looked like to him right at that moment as the moonlight shone on his body was wow, just wow. Bucky was in fact very beautiful. Tony really tried playing it cool, he really did, but then Steve had walked in wearing only pants that sat low on his waist and any sliver of sanity he had left went flying out the window and him with it and he fled out the kitchen.

Bucky never left him alone after that, and oddly Tony began to enjoy his ever-present company. He expected the super soldier to be somewhere around him every single day and honestly, he could never tell if that was a good progress or the complete opposite. Yes, he did enjoy having someone there, he had been feeling alone lately ever since he embarked on his plan to avoid any and all human interactions and it was nice to be around a person that didn’t expect the world from him. It didn’t really hurt that Bucky was insanely hot.

Bucky also made him laugh, not in a cute giggle way, well there was a little of that as well, but Tony often found himself throwing his head back and grabbing his stomach and trying to hold his tears back almost every time Bucky seemed to be having a good day. Not to mention the fact that Bucky listened to him, every single word Tony said didn’t just go past his head, the soldier actually attempted to decipher Tony’s copious science rambles and once in a while when he found himself understanding some concepts he even jumped in with a question or two of his own.

Talking to people about his creations was something he gave up a long time before the Avengers even existed, it was just that no one seemed to care about after he shut down the weapons manufacturing industry at SI. No one gave a damn unless it was an upgraded weapon or a device that could potentially destroy the world, so Tony gave up. He built, upgraded, designed, and invented down in the darkness of his lab. But then Bucky randomly walked into his life and all of a sudden he cannot seem to stop talking anymore. He’s probably told him everything from new ideas he had for improving the team’s suits to revamped cancer extraction ideas for kids. Bucky opened Tony up and made him feel safe and wanted. And Tony would be forever grateful.

So it’s safe to say that Tony wasn’t surprised when every time Bucky strutted into the lab that his stomach did a big flip-flop thing and his throat clenched up. Tony found himself falling for the veteran and falling hard. 

Not a good thing seeing as how he was in love with the other guy Tony was hopelessly in love with. His heart really was out to get him.

“Tony!”

Tony shook his head and abruptly spun to face the intruder of his train of thought. In front of him stood Natasha all geared up in her suit holding two pistols in each of her hands and a third tightly strapped by her ankle. “Yes, Tony is I, Tony replied, wondering if she had just gotten back from a solo S.H.I.E.L.D mission.

“Gear up, we’ve been summoned.”

Tony rolled his eyes. He really didn’t have time for this.

________________

They were surrounded on all sides. Cap was throwing punches left and right, using his shield to block the bots as much as he could, but that didn’t stop them from leaving a nasty cut on his right side. The Hulk had five, six, and maybe even seven of the creature/robots hanging from his neck disallowing him to move. Natasha and Clint were both off to the side leaning against a wall, attempting to cover their backsides as they shot bullet after bullet and arrow after arrow.

“Iron Man! We could really use a little firepower in the sky here!” Steve yelled over the comms grunting as he forced his shield through the abdomen of a robot that was choking him.

Tony saw as yet another group of four or five aliens threw themselves at Steve. “I’m almost all out of juice here, Cap, and if you want me to use the beams then no can do on the thruster-beam combo!” Tony answered back.

The shield flew through the air and back to Cap, taking the heads swiftly off of three creatures.

‘God, where was the thunder god when they needed him? Probably off playing with his new space friends,’ Tony guessed.

The engineer could hear the screams of his teammates ringing through the air. These weren’t just another normal round of Doom bots, they were faster, stronger, more adaptable. Tony could see them running numbers through their head memorizing fight patterns and blocking every single one of them every five minutes. They needed a boost. They needed a boot right now.

“Sir you’re currently running on five percent energy level,” JARVIS warned.

“Someone do something!” Clint screamed as he flipped through the air letting yet another exploding arrow fly.

“I’m running on empty here guys.” Tony whimpered as he took on another couple of hits.

“Tony, see yourself off of the battlefield, we’ll handle it” Steve commanded as he twisted and dodged away from spears that launched straight out of the bots’ chest.

The engineer glanced all around his. The team was split apart, they were each on their own, fighting desperately to keep themselves alive. Tony’s eyes widened in realization. Fuck, why didn’t he think of it before?

“No,” the engineer replied.

“Tony!”

“No Cap! I’ve got something.” Tony glanced at his energy level, three percent.

“Tony, listen, no matter what you do right now, they won’t stop coming, and I hate to say it, but if you tap out they’ll eat you alive armor or no,” Natasha urged. 

Tony growled, unwilling to admit defeat on his part. “J, on my command, okay buddy?”

“Sir, I highly advise against this. You’ll be left vulnerable.”

“On my command J,” Tony repeated.

“Yes, sir.”

Tony clenched his eyes shut and pushed two bots off of him, getting himself to an open area. “Everybody, duck!” He screamed. “NOW JARVIS!.” 

His unibeam shone brightly in a straight line. Tony forced himself to spin around and around as he fried every single thing within twelve feet in front of him. Robots fell from the air and the ground, half of their armor on fire. Tony kept spinning in circles, hoping to get a clean enough radius that they could rest and plan out their next course of action. He needed to speak to Cap. Or he needed Cap to do his quick thinking skill.

Tony fell to his knees abruptly and saw what he expected on the display in front of his eyes. Zero percent power capacity. He laid down on the road, panting as beads of sweat ran down his head. 

“Tony, Tony, get up, Tony, they’re going to be back in two seconds, and we need to get you to safety.” Steve crouched down by Tony’s head and pushed the helmet off of the man. “Come on, you’ve done all you can.” He ran his hands through, Tony’s sweat-covered curls.

Tony kept breathing deeply. “You know what, Cap, I think you might be right.” Tony shut his eyes again. “God, your fingers feel so nice and cold.” 

Steve chuckled and opened his mouth to say something when he felt a hard kick to his back, he flew across the road and right into the tall building to his right. The impact caused pain to blossom through his whole body.

Tony was suddenly grabbed and lifted by his hair. “Whoa, dick wad! I was enjoying myself there. God, why can’t you guys let me have anything for once?” Tony struggled against the grip that felt as though the bot was ripping his hair off. Tony wriggled and squirmed trying to get himself free. He was just about prepared to give up, to let the robot drag him and hurl him wherever when his butt landed hard on the floor. The robot that was holding him up in the air laid a few inches from Tony, arm clear off of its body.

Shots rang through the air, landing directly in the middle of the heads of all the bot/creature things. The shots seemed as though they were coming from everywhere, left, right, up, down.

Tony stared at the sky confused, he sat up trying to find the source of the bullets.

Bucky strutted out of the back of a humongous black truck, a rifle in his left bionic arm. The ex-assassin held it as though it was meant to be there. But, a slight twinge in his eyes was evidence of his uncomfortableness in having the weight of the weapon in his hand. 

Tony’s mouth hung open. Bucky was clad in a blue suit leather strapped tightly across his chest, one sleeve completely covered his flesh arm, his bionic arm though was left out for the eyes of the public. He was wearing cargo pants that fit his ass beautifully. His new get up could’ve been easily mistaken for the old Winter Soldier, sans the emo eye makeup, suit if it weren’t for the open display of the white Avengers symbol embedded in the sleeve of his right arm. Tony was speechless, laying there on the floor.

Bucky flipped onto the roof of a car. “I don’t think you should be grabbing him like that, asshole.” The comment was directed at the pile of scraped up metal lying next to Tony. 

“Bucky?” Tony uttered, eyes still wide, staring up at what seemed to be an angel sent from heaven.

“Heya there, sweetheart, how ya doing?” Bucky asked as he hit a bot off him with the butt of his gun. He moved ever so gracefully, his body stretching and pivoting to block punches and attacks coming his way.

 

Tony made a show of looking around him, he saw Natasha and Clint standing back to back fighting off whatever came in their way, Steve curled up into a little ball hiding behind his shield, Hulk sliding down buildings ripping robots in half. “Pretty good all things considered,” he nodded. “How’d you even get here? How are you even able to move with your arm after the whole ordeal at the lab?” Tony fired questions one after the other at the super soldier.

“Uhh, JARVIS and some guy named Phil,” Bucky replied as he shot again and again, perfect aim each time.

Tony nodded.

“Listen, doll, JARVIS told me that that suit yours is all out of juice. Actually, it’s why I jumped in the picture. But anyways, I need you to get out of this scene, babe, please.” Bucky begged as he pivoted his body every which way. 

Tony nodded and slowly dragged his body off of the ground. “Like I said before, sounds like a good plan of action.” He began trudging backward. His heart beat hard in his chest as he witnessed Bucky ripping the bots with his bare hands. Oh, fuck, the arm. Tony had no idea who exactly fixed Bucky up after they were called up to assemble, but it looked good as new. Tony stared carefully as it recalibrated itself, metal plates rising and resetting themselves again. Tony barely tore his eyes off of it. Jesus, it was quite a piece of work.

Tony shook his head and went to turn his body planning to make his escape. His left leg stretched forward.

Movement at the corner of his eye stopped him from taking his first step.

A bot standing stealthily behind Bucky getting ready to stick one of its long metal tentacles into the soldier’s back.

It rose its arm high in the air.

Tony lost total control of his body. Everything from that point felt as though it were a lucid dream. His feet began working dragging him forwards, one foot after the other, his hands pumping violently. Metal clanged together from how fast he was running, leaving scrapes on his armor in his wake.

He could barely breathe. All he saw was Bucky. All he could think was Bucky, Bucky, Bucky, Bucky.

He heaved himself forward.

Two seconds later, all could feel was his chest slowly collapsing. He opened his mouth, nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Tony looked down. Fear and numbness simultaneously running down his spine. He couldn’t decide if it was overwhelming or if he could feel nothing.

Oh.

The spear jutted out of Tony’s chest, sparks igniting from the impact with the reactor, the once gleaming blue light flickering, threatening to completely shut off.

Tony glanced back up at Bucky. He tilted his head. He could tell that his mouth was moving, but he was having a hard time making out what exactly he was saying due to all the pressure that was quickly building up in his ears.

Tony’s vision frayed at the edges. He saw Bucky’s figure moving, the outline of him in one place, while his actual physical body in another. Interesting.

Tony’s knees hit the ground.

He couldn’t remember the last breath he took.

God his chest was aching.

He felt the pressure of Bucky’s fingers on the back of his head guiding him to his lap.

“Stay with me, baby,” Bucky pleaded, his voice, dripping with emotion, finally breaching Tony’s ears. “Stay right here, don’t you dare leave me, don’t you dare leave us. Bruce! Bruce! Steve!” Bucky yelled. His hand tore at the armor, ripping away metal plates. Bucky placed the hand that wasn’t buried in Tony’s hair on the engineer’s chest where blood was oozing out.

Tony smiled up at Bucky. His vision was growing fuzzier by the second. His body shook as he coughed, a trail of blood dripped down the side of his mouth. “Aw, n-n-never thought this would be how I went, Buck, always th-th-thought I-I’d choke on my own vomit someday.” Tony grinned a bloody grin.

“Shh, don’t talk, baby, save your energy.”

Another head joined Bucky.

“Tony, Tony, sweetheart, please hold on for us. Bruce and the medics will be here any second,” Steve urged. His blue eyes were glassy with unshed tears, his face covered in patches of dirt. He was so gorgeous. Tony couldn’t understand anyone that would even think to cause this angel any pain, he was too pretty to feel such gruesome feelings.

Tony just simply stared at the two men on top of him. Beautiful. He rose both his gauntlet-free hands, one ended up caressing the side of his Captain’s face, the other holding Bucky’s chin, trying to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault, to not waste his life blaming himself for this. He never even got to have either of them, not even one single kiss.

He could feel himself slipping. But, he couldn’t, not yet at least, he needed to tell them.

Tony stared deep into Bucky’s eyes, into the pain and anguish and disaster, everything that made him the man that was standing in front of him right now. A single tear fell from his eye and down the side of his face. “I… I l--”

________________

The sound of the heart monitor was threatening to Bucky. It was as if it were taunting him, making sure that he realized the fact that the person currently laying in the hospital bed was on the brink. Bucky wanted to punch the screen until it shattered into pieces on the floor. Bucky wanted a lot of things at that moment, but the heart monitor was so goddamn loud he couldn’t think of anything else besides that and the sight of Tony’s paling body in his arms.

He especially couldn’t get that image out of his brain. Tony’s dark red blood all over his hands, his throat as it choked on a mixture of blood and saliva every single time he tried to take a breath. He had never felt more helpless than at that very moment, seeing Tony’s body just laying there in his arms, he had no idea what to do besides to try and stop the blood.

Bucky clenched Tony’s cold hand in his own as if the older man would slip right through his fingers if he let go. And at that point? He wasn’t taking any more chances.

He deeply wished Steve was with him, but Captain America was dragged away by fucking S.H.I.E.L.D for fucking paperwork and a necessary briefing. He didn’t miss the look on his face before he was pulled away by Maria Hill, his eyebrows were drawn together in apprehension, and his eyes were still clouded over. He knew that he would be there with him if he could.

Bucky stared at the sleeping engineers face. He looked so peaceful, so at rest, it was almost sad, the fact that Bucky had never seen him more content than at that moment. Bruce had said that the spear that Tony was stabbed with didn’t only hit the reactor, but it also dug into the lower part of his chest as well, that’s why there was so much blood. That was also why Tony had a good amount of bandages wrapped around his midsection.

A wave of foreign feelings washed over Bucky, and his throat clamped up. His hands began to subtly shake and his fingertips turned white. There it was, he guessed.

If there was something he never told anybody, not even Steve, it was the fact that there was one thing he was glad for when he was taken by the HYDRA douchebags back in Austria and when he fell off that train, the fact that he would never have to go through exactly what he was going through right now, losing someone he cared about.

Don’t get him wrong though, he was ecstatic when Stevie found him, beyond happy, he hadn’t wanted to die just yet. But, when he saw Steve’s face in that helmet, face coated in dirt and grime when he felt Steve’s hand wrap around him as soon as he got up on his own two feet he knew, he was dazed out of his mind, but, he knew it was over. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to protect him anymore, to shield him from the horrors of war, of misery, loss, disaster, and pain. Most of all, he realized that his chances of Steve leaving him behind were once again at an all-time high, he knew that it has always been that way with Steve’s constant illnesses, he always had chances of losing him, but he really thought that lying there, on that experimentation table, that he would be the first to go. It was selfish, it was a selfish thing to want, but he couldn’t help it. He doesn’t think that he would be able to stomach the feeling of losing someone.

But, here he was, sitting beside someone that nearly crossed over. Someone that he had fallen head over heels for and never told.

“How’s he doing?”

Bucky flinched at the sound of the voice. He spotted Steve rushing into the room and going to stand on the other side of the bed. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be here earlier, but fucking S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn’t let me go, they said I had to fill out paperwork and stay for the entirety of the debriefing. They claimed it was actually “more important” than checking on Tony,” Steve let out all his words in one breath, he seemed as though he ran over to the room. The Captain took one glance at the air tube that was taped to Tony’s mouth, and the white bandage that was peaking out of his hospital gown, and began to hurriedly spit out all the combination of curses he could think of at the top of his head.

Bucky’s head fell helplessly into his hands. He intensely scrubbed his face in frustration. “Fuck, Stevie, fuck,” Bucky swore. Steve's eyes softened and he crossed the room to his boyfriend’s side. The blonde man pulled Bucky into him, wrapped his arms around the older man, and let him cling onto his middle while his body shook with sobs that he’s been holding in the entire time. “Shhh, shhh, sweetie, Tony’s okay, he’s hurt, but, he’s breathing,” Steve tried to calm the other man, stroking his hair, but he couldn’t help but let a few tears of his own slip out. The pain of having almost lost Tony a second time was unbearable and overwhelming. The sound of Tony choking on blood would forever be burned into the back of his mind.

“He got hurt, Stevie, he got hurt trying to protect me. That seems to be all I can do anymore, cause the people I love pain.”

Steve pulled away from the sobbing man and got down on his knees so they could be eye level. “Honey, no, you can’t blame yourself for this. You can’t do that.”

“How can I not? He dove to protect me. If I would’ve just got him out earlier, or just paid more attention then he wouldn’t--” Bucky gestured vaguely. 

Steve flinched, the gears in his mind rotating, searching for the right words to use in this situation. Steve pushed a strand of hair behind the super soldier’s ear. “Bucky, it, it was Tony’s choice to save you. That was his choice to make,” Steve tried to explain, careful not to say something that’ll be taken in the wrong way. 

Bucky’s eyes fell to the ground. “Well, he really shouldn’t have. Why would he go and do something so dumb like that anyway?”

Steve smiled softly. He caressed the side of the older man’s face with the back of his hand. “Because he loves you, you dumbass.”

“You can’t know that for sure. He might only like me, or, or, he might just wanna have sex with me, or he could just think we’re really good friends. Tony would protect anyone, you know that.” Bucky attempted to find another explanation. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He was slipping.

Steve held Bucky’s face in his hands. “No, Buck, I mean, yes, Tony would do that for anyone in danger, but he loves you. You know when I realized?”

Bucky’s eyes rose to meet Steve’s. “At the lab, when Tony let me come into the lab with you. Did you see how much it pained him to see you with me? To see us so close together? But, he let me come anyway. Know what that means?”

Bucky sniffled. Steve continued. “It means that he loves you so much that he’s willing to put himself through the pain of seeing just so he can see you be happy. He loves you so much, Bucky, that he chose to put you before himself,” Steve explained.

Bucky clenched his eyes shut. Something about this conversation felt so off, so wrong, especially with Tony lying there unconscious in front of them. Something was off, especially in the words that fell from Steve’s mouth, maybe not the words exactly, in the way he was phrasing them. His eyes flew open when he realized. He reached for Steve’s hand and pulled him into a hug. “He loves you too, you asshole, he loves you too.”

Steve clenched his jaw. He wanted to argue but, he kept his mouth shut, he wanted to say that he was the reason that Tony ran away from the lab earlier today, his touch. He wanted to say how Tony was about to tell Bucky, that he loved him before he passed out not him. But, he understood that that last thing the other soldier needed right now was an argument. So he simply let Bucky whisper lies about how much Tony loves him into his ear. His heart breaking with each word.

Dr. Helen Cho walked in at that moment, holding a clipboard tightly in both her hands. Both Bucky and Steve’s heads turned up to stare at her. 

“How is he?” they asked simultaneously. 

Dr.Cho pursed her lips. “You were lucky that you brought him in in time. Mr.Stark was bleeding profusely. The spear went right through his chest, impacting the reactor along its way. Luckily though, it missed any major arteries, so he didn’t die instantly. But, regardless, the reactor being semi-damaged, unfortunately, sent him into severe cardiac arrest.” Dr. Cho cut off herself off. 

Bucky’s head fell back into his hands. He dug the bottom of his palms into his eyes, trying to ease the pressure that was building up. Steve’s eyes drifted to Tony’s chest where a shiny new blue light was erupting from a replacement arc reactor Bruce had codes too. He said that Tony gave him the access codes to retrieve it, in case of emergencies such as now.

Buck drew in a deep breath. “Do you know if he’ll wake up any time soon?” he asked.

Dr. Cho pursed her lips, looking as though she didn’t know how to continue.“Mr.Stark’s body has been exhausted. Not counting this major injury, which has obviously impacted him awfully, scans show that Mr.Stark hasn’t been feeding himself properly along with an abundance of other problems such as an erratic sleeping pattern and high levels of stress. The pain medication that we have him on should keep him from feeling too much of anything though, but we had to stitch up his chest and replace his arc reactor, and those were extremely delicate procedures.” 

 

“That doesn’t really answer the question Helen,” Steve said, jaw tight.

“We’re hoping that Mr.Stark makes a quick recovery-”

“Dr.Cho, just, answer the question please,” Bucky interrupted hastily, anxiety dripping from his voice.

“We’re not sure when, or if, he’ll wake up any time soon,” Dr.Cho finally answered.

Bucky clenched his hands together into a tight fist. Steve gently shut his eyes.

________________

Bucky and Steve never left Tony’s side for the next two days. The rest of the Avengers drifted in and out of the room trying to convince the super soldiers that they should take over while Steve and Bucky go take showers and get some rest on an actual bed, but Steve and Bucky refused to leave the engineer’s side. They took turns keeping watch over Tony, wanting to be around when he wakes up.

The third day that Tony was unconscious, Bucky was curled up fast asleep in the same cushion seat he dragged next to the bed the first day, his soft snore penetrated the silence in the room. Steve, on the other hand, sat up, wide awake. He stood by the window, watching as raindrops slowly slid down. The weather outside pretty much summed up his mood seeing as how grey clouds filled the sky and shot out lightning and thunder shook the Earth. Yes, exactly how he felt at that moment. 

 

Steve sighed and turned around to glance at Tony. The light from outside shone on half his face, accenting his sharp eyebrow, the tip of his nose, and the angles of his perfectly trimmed goatee. Steve’s fingers twitched, the urge to draw Tony right now filled his chest. He was so perfect, even with the bandages around his chest, and the small band-aids littered around his face.

Steve walked to Tony’s bed. He reached out to touch the unconscious man’s hand, but he hesitated halfway, fingertips only skimming his knuckles. He let out a breath of air and knotted their fingers together. He gasped, Tony’s hands were ice cold. He sat down on the chair already placed next to the bed. Steve shut his eyes and let his thoughts flow. He thought about the last time Tony and he had an actual conversation, a month and a half ago, before he left to go find Bucky.

Steve was sitting on a stool by the island in the kitchen sipping a cup of tea at two in the morning.

“Bad dreams?” Tony had walked in and asked while taking a seat on the stool. Steve had remained quiet, ignoring the flutter of his heart when he saw Tony with his soft curls bouncing on his head. Tony rested his hand on his palm. “Yeah, I get those sometimes, well most of the time. Actually, now that I think about it, I probably get them every night.”

“About what?” Steve asked, running his fingers around the edge of the steaming cup. His eyebrows knitted in concern.

Tony tilted his head, “Hmm, well, there are wormholes, dead people, blood, water, kidnappings, buildings crumbling and falling on top of me, etcetera, etcetera, pick your poison,” Tony explained.

Steve’s mouth fell open, “Tony, that’s not-” Tony rose his hand and gestured at the captain for him to stop.

“That’s not what this is about. What I’m trying to say is that I get it, you can tell me, I understand what it’s like. And who knows, maybe I can even help a little bit.” Tony scooted closer to the bigger man.

Steve’s tongue darted out and licked his lips. “I would need to be able to fall asleep to have bad dreams.”

Tony’s eyes softened in understanding. “Ah, so it’s the routinely distracting thoughts then?”

Steve hummed in reply.

“Care to elaborate?” Tony’s eyes focused on Steve’s face.

“I can’t really reveal too much.”

Tony tilted his head again. Steve turned to stare at the other man’s face, he felt as though his heart was going to burst. “Someone wants me to do something that I’m deeply against, in fact I want to do the exact opposite, and now I-I really don’t know what to do,” Steve tried explaining as vaguely as possible because he couldn’t tell Tony anything about Bucky, not even that he was alive, let alone the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D was going to try and erase him from the face of the Earth, make it as though he never existed. It was “confidential”. More like S.H.I.E.L.D didn’t want anyone knowing that there was a brainwashed assassin on the loose that they couldn’t keep on a tight leash. 

Tony laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder. The blonde man’s breath caught somewhere in his throat, god.

“Cap,” Tony started. Steve’s eyes rose to meet Tony’s. “Steve, I don’t know anything about this person, or what exactly they’re trying to make you do. But, I do know that you’re a good man, probably the best man I’ve ever known, so you must have a good reason for going against this thing.” Tony began.

“What if it’s selfish?” Steve’s eyes subtly drifted down to Tony’s lips.

Tony’s hand that was previously on Steve’s shoulder, fell down to hold the Captain’s chin in between his index finger and thumb. “It’s okay to be selfish sometimes Steve, even if you’re Captain America,” Tony replied. Tony smiled at Steve, the soft light bulb that cast a temperate glow on top of them angled over Tony’s face in ways that made Steve want to reach out his hand and make sure that the man sitting in front of him was real. That he was there and not an illusion.

Steve’s mind came back to the hospital room. Back to Tony and reality. He swallowed the emotions building up in his throat, pain, disgust, want, and need all mixed together and burning his insides. Sometimes, Steve questioned whether listening to Tony encouraged him too much because, after that conversation, Steve instantly packed a duffel and was on his way to find Bucky. He went up against every S.H.I.E.L.D protocol that ever existed. If only he knew that that precise conversation would be the last one in which he and Tony actually got through to each other. Things were… rough when he got back home. Things with Bucky took a while to simmer down into something kind of similar to what the shared before the war, and Steve was anything but naive and ignorant, he knew that his relationship with Bucky would never actually magically morph into what they had in the past. That was unreachable because of the fact that they were two totally different people now. Steve wasn’t just Steve anymore he was much more than that, he’s seen, felt, heard, and tasted, things he never thought he would. Not to mention the obvious truth of how his body shifted along with his biological chemistry, and needs. And Bucky, Bucky spent seventy years under, maybe not under physical ice, but he wasn’t himself throughout that whole duration of time, he’s experienced death, resurrection, and more pain than anyone who’s human could tolerate. So, when Steve got Bucky back he never really expected them to fall into the dynamic they shared. Heck, he was lucky enough that Bucky still wanted him the way he used to, that he still remembered him. He was lucky that Bucky still had the same smile, the same cut in the middle of his eyebrow. He was lucky that Bucky still reached out to him at night, that he still remembered just how much Steve loved curling up under his arms. But even though, Bucky still wasn’t Bucky. He wanted Tony’s support, his help, and his shoulder to lean on, just like Tony always offered. He wanted Tony, he needed Tony, but Tony wasn’t around.

He reached out and pushed back the hair that was falling down into Tony’s closed eyes. “Come back to me, Tony, please,” he whispered. Steve laid a soft kiss on Tony’s knuckle and hoped.

______________

There was no change in Tony’s condition for the next week. Doctor’s came in every single day for a routine check and replacement of his IV fluid bag. They shook their heads every single time Steve or Bucky, or Steve and Bucky asked them for any progress.

Days passed by, and eventually, a week turned into two, two into two and a half. Steve and Bucky still remained in the same clothes that they were wearing the first day they spent in the room. Bucky wearing a black Stark Industries sweater, one that he found in Tony’s lab a while back, it smelt of coffee beans with a small hint of worn-out metal, it reminded him so much of the engineer. Steve wore a button-down plaid shirt that was half open most of the time. Both men supported the beginning of what would eventually grow into a full-on beard.

By the third week, a new person would come in every single day to drop off a plate of food that would be devoured in five minutes by both the super soldiers. It continued on like that, that is until Natasha grabbed them both by their ears and forced them out of the room for ten minutes to take badly needed showers. Steve and Bucky didn’t dare argue with her, they simply left the room rubbing their arms.

Bucky was hesitant to leave, he turned around as soon as he was out of the door and looked through the window in the door at Tony’s face. Steve felt a pang in his heart when he saw the distress all over Bucky’s face. He clenched the brunette man’s hand in his own and tugged. Bucky stared down at their intertwined hands and then back up at Steve.

“Come on,” Steve said and jerked his head towards the bathrooms, he leaned in closer to Bucky, lining their bodies, touching their foreheads together, and cupping Bucky’s face.“Come on, Bucky, let’s go.”

Bucky drew his eyebrows in and tilted his head 

Steve tugged his hand once again. “Buck, let’s just go get cleaned up.”

Bucky’s face changed into one of understanding. “Together?” Bucky’s voice cracked. He placed his hands on top of Steve’s on his face.

“Oh, baby,” Steve chuckled, and pressed his lips softly on the shorter man’s, trying to send every ounce of comfort he had to him, “Yeah, yes, together.”

“Okay.”

________________

The loud splashes of the water droplets slid down the naked bodies of the soldiers. Water seeped in between the strands of Bucky’s long hair and covered the creases of Steve’s muscles. Hot steam coated the glass of shower. Steams from the water as well as Bucky’s frantic and erratic breath. Bucky groaned and threw his head back as Steve slipped himself up and down Bucky’s back, his member teasing his hole.

“I th-unngh- I thought we, fuck, I thought we were getting cleaned up?” Bucky tried pushing back against Steve trying to get more friction. Steve pushed himself against the other man’s back, wrapped his arms around his abdomen, and forced him against the glass. Bucky tried to grip the window although finding no success as his fingers simply slipped. “Shit, Steve, please, hngh, fuck.”

Steve continued to rub himself against the brunette man, enjoying the sinful sounds that fell past Bucky’s lips. “Please what, honey?” He replied, cocking his eyebrow up, knowing exactly what it was the Bucky wanted, needed. The giant blonde man began running his fingertips down Bucky’s back, laying soft sweet kisses along with way. Steve kissed down on Bucky’s lower back just above where Bucky actually wanted him to be. He blew a warm breath near the brunettes

Bucky shivered as he felt Steve’s hot lips on him, sending electricity rushing through his body. “Fuck me, you douchebag,” he pleaded.

Steve chuckled and shook his head fondly. “All these years,” Bucky stiffened, “And you still insult me while I’m only trying to please you.”

“You’re not trying to please me, punk, you’re teasing.”

Steve poked his tongue out and licked a long strip down Bucky’s crack. “You love it, you jerk.” He blew a hot breath against the raging red hole in front of him. Bucky writhed at the pleasure flowing through him. He was oh so painfully hard. He wrapped a finger around the tip of his head. Steve immediately grabbed Bucky’s hand and pulled it back. “No,” he said abruptly, his voice demanding and hard. He rubbed his nose against the small dimple on the bottom of Bucky’s spine. He shut his eyes and placed his forehead on Bucky’s back. “I want you to come just from my mouth, Buck, just me,” Steve demanded.

Oh fuck. Steve had no idea everything that he did to Bucky, everything that he made him feel all at once. Most of all, right then, squirming and twitching underneath Steve’s touch, felt like he was finally home again, finally himself. Bucky swallowed and his cock pulsed, needing to be touched. But, he wouldn’t, because Steve told him not to.

“Fuck, yeah, okay, Steve, okay, just, please get on with it, Stevie---aaagh,” Bucky choked out as he felt Steve’s tongue completely penetrate him.

Steve lapped and licked at Bucky’s hole, stretching him open as much as he could. Bucky dug his fingernails into the glass resulting in a piercing screeching noise. “Shit, shit, shit, Steve, oh, fuck, come on, come on, please” were the only words that remained in Bucky’s vocabulary, everything else was unreachable as his mind was clouded with pleasure. His cock twitched. Bucky clenched around Steve’s tongue.

“Bend over a little for me, baby,” Steve urged. And Bucky complied easily, pushing his ass out and hands slipping down on the glass door. Steve went back at it, pushing his tongue in and out, fucking Bucky with it. Bucky was babbling at this point, nothing he said made any sense. It made Steve hot, thinking that he was the reason Bucky became undone like this.

Steve added a finger in with his tongue. He pushed it in slowly, allowing Bucky to get used to the increased size of intrusion. Bucky clenched his eyes shut and dug his fingernails into his palms, almost drawing blood. Bucky was so fucking close. “More, Stevie, come on, I can take it,” he begged.

Steve pushed himself in deeper and curled his index finger, and right then he knew that he had found Bucky’s spot.

Pleasure, more erotic and stronger than anything Bucky had felt so far, ripped through him, reaching all the way to his toes that inadvertently curled. That was all it took to send him over the edge. White ribbons spurt out and painted his abs as if they were a canvas. He shook violently as he finished. And Steve kept going, pushing his tongue in and out, helping Bucky along.

Bucky slipped down onto the shower floor, worn out. He breathed deeply. “Fuckin’ hell, Stevie. Where did you learn to do that? I can’t believe I came so fast” His Brooklyn accent was left completely unchecked. 

Steve smirked and shrugged. Bucky reached out and placed a wet hand on the bigger man’s cheek. He glanced down and found Steve hard and probably aching. Bucky reached out to grab Steve in his hand, to return the favor. Steve grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

“No, don’t worry about me.”

“But,”

“No, it’s okay, Bucky, this was about you. This was for you,” Steve insisted.

Bucky tilted his head in confusion. “Why?”

Steve’s eyes fell to the floor and his nose wrinkled slightly. “I know how hard this is for you, Buck, breaking through your conditioning, finding yourself again, not to mention dealing with the whole future thing, and I’m sorry, I know I’m not making it any easier either. And now, Tony’s hurt, and I really wish--”

Bucky placed a hand carefully on top of Steve’s mouth. “You’re rambling, sunshine.”

Steve shut his eyes tightly.

Bucky took his hand off of Steve’s mouth and stroked his cheeks with his thumb. “Stevie, you worry way too much.”

“How could I not worry? I love you,” Steve replied. Bucky looked at the blonde man with fondness.

There were so many things Bucky could say right now, but he decided to go with what he’s been wanting to say ever since he arrived at the tower ago. “Steve, things are never going to go back to normal. Not with you, not with us, not with me especially. I’m not going to say that it hasn’t been hard, because it has. Being back, and myself feels like I rose from a grave I’ve been forced to lay in for over seventy years. And-and, I’ve done stuff I’m not proud of-”

“It wasn’t you!” Steve cut in. Bucky rose a steady hand to stop him from talking.

“There are things that I can’t unsee, things I’ll probably never have the pleasure of wiping completely from my mind. And it’s hard, of course, it’s hard,” Bucky swallowed, “Every time, I look at you, I think of how I tried to hurt you, how I tried to leave you, and that, that makes me want to kill myself.”

Steve’s mouth parted open.

“But, I’m getting better, maybe I won’t be completely the same as before, but I’m getting better. You’re helping so much, baby, you being around me, supporting me, is helping. So don’t you dare say that you wish you could do something because you are. Steve, you saved me for all the gods’ sakes! And Tony,” Bucky’s head fell, “Well, let’s just say, I knew the exact reasons you fell for him the moment I saw him with his coffee pot and crumpled up pajamas at three in the morning. He’s helped me so much as well, he might not realize it, but he has,” Bucky explained, his eyebrow twitching at the thought of Tony still laying there in the bed in the med bay.

Steve grabbed both Bucky’s hands in his own. “He will wake up, Buck. He will recover. He’s Tony Stark, he’s too stubborn to not to.”

________________

Steve and Bucky made sure to take yet another shower before leaving the room, this time actually getting around cleaning themselves. Steve grabbed loose sweats and t-shirts from his own drawers, but before they could get dressed, Bucky flung the t-shirts to the other side of the room. “Who needs those,” he claimed, throwing his arms around Steve’s broad shoulders. They stepped into the sweats and hurled themselves on the bed. Steve had Bucky tucked under his arms while he was propped up on the bed. The shorter man rested his head on Steve’s chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat, taking comfort in the smooth, consistent sound. Time passed slowly as they rested on the bed, they didn’t even sleep, they simply relished in each other’s presence allowing tension that’s built up seep through their skins a little.

Steve ran his fingers through Bucky’s long strands, loving the feeling of his silky hair. He dug his nose into the top of his head.

“I wish Tony were here with us,” Bucky piped up.

Steve closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Yeah, baby, I wish he were here as well,” the Captain sighed.

“Why do you sound like that?” Bucky asked.

Steve fluttered his eyes open and dipped his head down to glance at Bucky’s face. “Sound like what?” Steve knew exactly how he sounded, he knew that he was terrible at masking his emotions.

“You sound as though Tony’s actually dead right now. Like-like he’s gone and- and,” Bucky stuttered.

Steve shifted their bodies so that the super soldier would sit up and face him, eye to eye, heart to heart. “I don’t, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tony’s not dead, he isn’t going to die either. I don’t know why you would insist that I sound as though-”

“You can’t have him anymore?” Bucky finished for him.

Steve clenched his jaw. Bucky’s eyes fell on the bed, he placed his hand on his forehead and chuckled. “God we all are a pair of idiots. We all really do deserve each other, Stevie.”

_________________

Bucky and Steve had almost nodded off by the time Natasha and Bruce threw open the door of their room, causing it to hit the wall and emanate a loud, startling bang. A noise that infiltrated Bucky’s foggy, half-asleep mind, resulting in him snapping his eyes open, instantly flinging the soft grey blanket that covered him and Steve somewhere on the floor, and vaulting up onto his own two feet, both hands, metal, and flesh, locked in front of him, ready to slaughter the intruder. His body naturally went to go stand in front of the man in the bed. Steve just openly grinned at the older man’s action, his chest warming at the instinctive act of protectiveness. He chose, instead of ready-to-kill combat position, to tuck his hands behind his head, and to lower his body into the pillows that were currently resting on his back.

“What the fuck, Nat?” Bucky yelled, breathing deeply, hands lowering back to his sides.

Natasha giggled quietly in a mock-like sort of way. “Sorry, Soldier didn’t mean to scare you. But it’s good to know that you jump easily. Good for future reference that is,” the super-spy retorted.

Bucky rolled his eyes at the red-headed woman and sank back into the corner of the bed, hands moving to rest on his knees. Natasha’s eyes skimmed over both the soldiers’ bare chests. She made eye contact with Steve, who was still lying comfortably in the bed and rose an eyebrow. Steve shrugged. Bucky and Steve weren’t hiding their relationship from their teammates, though they didn’t make an official announcement about it either. They haven’t even told anyone about their feelings for Tony. It’s not that they’re hiding, or ashamed, they just didn’t feel like their relationship was anybody’s business really. They were not obliged to make their relationship public. They weren’t going to deny things if that particular question came up. Steve or Bucky would happily answer that yes, they have been in a relationship since before the war, and yes, Tony was a part of that now (When he agreed to it). This wasn’t the 40’s, they weren’t going to get threatened with the beheadings and hellfire because they liked the same gender or because they were in a three-way relationship. They had nothing to hide anymore. But, Bucky liked the thing that they had, it was their thing.

“What is it?” Steve had asked, finally sitting up and crossing his legs.

Natasha smiled at the men. “He’s awake.”

Steve and Bucky had never run as fast in their entire lives.

________________

Tony felt as though his brain had been passed through a meat grinder at least thirty times. He was lying in a bed, his whole body cold and hot all at the same time, his tongue and his throat both dry and scratchy. He swallowed his spit hoping for some sort of wetness. He struggled to pry his eyes open, they didn’t really want to cooperate. He tried wiggling his toes, at least they still work. He tried his fingers next, so far so good. When he went to shift his hips, a shrilling pain rippled through his body and caused the hair on...everywhere, to rise in alarm. What the fuck, he thought. He worked to remember where the pain’s origin was because it seemed as though his whole body was swept underneath the wave. Maybe he was dead finally. He took a deep breath and stopped midway. Oh, that right, his chest. He was stabbed. Tony’s nose twitched in discomfort. His whole body felt uncomfortable. He wanted to know where he was, a hospital room or some kind of med room he was guessing as a whiff of an acidic sterilizing scent invaded his nose. He ripped his eyes open and was blinded by a bright, white light. He blinked his eyes a few time as his vision was a blurry mess.

“Oh, thank the gods,” someone in the room has muttered. Tony could barely turn his head before he heard the pitter patter of feet hitting the floor. The person had run out of the room.

Tony had managed to carefully drag his body up enough so that it was propped up against the headboard of the bed. It might’ve knocked any trace of breath left within him, but he did it anyway. He glanced around the room. Two empty chairs were left standing by the bed, sweaters were hanging on them. He looked to his left and found a heart monitor that showed the steady line of his heartbeat. So he was in a med room. Tony hated hospitals or anything that even resembled a hospital. Something about the smell, being picked and prodded, and the deep-seated aura of death and sadness caused a distressing shiver to run down his spine. Tony became aware of his dry throat once more, feeling as though there was a desert growing inside him.

He wanted water, even if it was just a sip. The engineer looked down at his hands and as soon as he saw the IV hanging from his right one he felt a stinging sensation. Peril bubbled in the deep pit of Tony’s stomach. He immediately ripped the needle out, and he also ripped out the wires attached to his chest. Essentially anything that was connected to Tony fell off his body at that moment. He flung his feet onto the floor, ignoring the pain that flared in his chest. Pushing himself up, he carefully commenced walking out into the hall. The engineer made it to the door before he grew tired and had to take several deep breaths. He gripped the threshold and kept walking.

The hall was filled with what looked like S.H.I.E.L.D agents, Tony guessed from the uniforms they were wearing.

“Mr.Stark!”

Tony was instantly surrounded from all sides by agents and doctors alike. One of them was Dr.Helen Cho, an unsurprising present body. “Mr.Stark, please, you can’t be out of the bed right now.” She reprimanded Tony and tried pushing him back into the room. Tony refused to budge. He stayed, feet glued to the floor, one hand on the threshold, another resting tenderly on top of the white bandage wrapped around his chest. Tony’s thumb brushed against the edge of the reactor. He didn’t think it would still be there, Bruce must’ve gotten his hands on the replacement in time.

“Tony!” Tony heard from his left. Oh god. The engineer melted as soon as heard them. He felt as though the sun decided to shine on him only. The warmth of it completely encasing him and covering him in amenity. “Tony!” He heard again. Tony spun his head. A blur of blonde and brown ran towards him. His mouth parted open.

Steve and Bucky made their way over to Tony as if he were the last breath of fresh air remaining in the world. Because to them, he sort of was. They pushed the doctor that was standing in their way and they both picked up Tony and bundle him up in his arms.

“Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Barnes, you can’t just-ugh, you can’t do that. You’ll rip his stitched open. He already tried to leave his room, and he couldn’t even make it past the door!” Helen Cho argued frustrated.

“You tried to what?”

“Are you dumb?” Steve and Bucky both said at the same time, their eyes wide in a mix of fright and bewilderment. Both of the men quickly gathered the smaller and softer man into their arms and lugged him to the bed.

As soon as Tony was laying on the bed again he stared up at them. He could tell that they both had just gotten cleaned up. They both smelled of Steve’s shampoo though, so they must’ve taken a shower together. Tony carefully glanced over Bucky’s face. He looked like he had just have shaved and his hair was pulled back into a half bun at the back of his head, a few strands though had gotten loose from both running and picking the engineer up. He was viciously biting his bottom lip, hard enough to draw a bit of blood. Bucky unclenched and clenched his metal hand over and over again, a clear sign that he was anxious. Tony looked over at Steve. Steve’s hair barely had time to fully dry, so it lay there, atop his head, damp, strands flying every which way. The blonde man had his gaze stuck to the floor and his hands wrapped behind his back. Anguish and guilt fought for a dominant place in his eyes. Tony couldn’t tell which was the strongest one present. He felt a twinge at the bottom of his heart at the sight of both his soldiers’ state.

A cup of water was placed at his bedside. “Drink this, you’re probably thirty seeing as you haven’t properly hydrated in more than the two weeks you’ve been out,” Dr. Cho delivered. She crossed her arms and prepared a mental rundown of Tony’s prognosis in her head. As she opened her mouth to speak, she felt the almost palpable tension and awkwardness in the air. She bit her tongue. The doctor glanced at Tony, then at Steve, then finally, at Bucky. She pursed her lips. “Okay, I’ll let you get settled for now,” She started, she turned to the soldiers, “Make sure he drinks this. I’ll be back later to check up on him and get him up to speed with everything. Okay?” Bucky and Steve nodded once in understanding.

 

With that, Helen Cho left the room. Bucky fled to Tony’s side and rummaged through the sheets for his hands. Once he found it he brought it to his lips, laid a big sloppy kiss on it, and held it to his heart. A heart that was swollen with joy right now. “Oh my god, Tony, Tony, Tony. I’m so glad you’re okay sweetheart. I’m so, god-” Bucky felt tears building up in his eyes, threatening to spill over. Tony raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth. But nothing came out. Seeing Bucky flat out cry made him want to go out and burn whatever caused him pain into many tiny pieces of useless ashes. The feeling drove Tony insane. He reached to the cup that Dr.Cho brought in. Before he could grab it, Steve was right there fetching it for him.

“Don’t move, you’ll rip open your stitches” he demanded. He cupped Tony’s chin and tilted his head, he brought the edge of the cup to his lips and poured the water down his throat. Tony felt instant relief as soon as the cool liquid slid down his throat. Tony chugged the water down quickly. He felt Steve’s thumb stroking his chin. Steve thought he was being subtle, but it was obvious that he was about to lose it at the sight of the love of his life alive and breathing, he would’ve done anything to be at his side, to have his hand on him, even if it were for just a few fleeting seconds.

Tony finished the water and sighed. “Wha-what happened?” was the first question that came out of his mouth. Bucky scooted closer to the bed instantly, almost sitting on it, but then deciding at the last minute that he didn’t wanna overwhelm the man.

“You were stabbed, you, you, you jumped and-and pushed me away when-” Bucky struggled to recall the memory, choking on the words. He was scared to admit that he was the reason that Tony had gotten hurt.

Tony reached out and stroked Bucky’s arm in comfort. He remembered that part. He also remembered that he was trying to tell Bucky not to blame himself. He wasn’t quite so sure if he got around to saying so. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault,” he repeated.

“How can you say that? How can you say that when I was the reason that you got hurt in the first place?” Bucky asked.

Tony kept stroking the soldier’s hand, hoping that everything he needed to say would get through to him.

“You were out for two weeks and a half, Tony. We thought you were gone, we thought you were gone, and that you’d never come back.” Bucky broke out into a full sob, burying his head in the bed by Tony’s thigh. Tony hesitantly placed a hand on the soldier’s hair. He looked up at Steve. Steve had his arms tensely crossed, and his jaw was clenched. At the sight of an unhinged Steve, Tony let go immediately, thinking that the Captain didn’t want the hands of a filthy playboy on his property. He lifted his hands and placed them in his lap.

Bucky instantly raised his head at the loss of Tony’s touch. He looked up at Tony only to see that Tony was twiddling his thumbs with his hands in his lap, eyes looking defeated, confused, and wounded. Bucky, knowing exactly what was causing this pain, growled and jerked his head to look up at the other man. “Would you stop this and get over here you punk?!”

Steve’s lips parted in surprise, his hands uncrossed themselves. Bucky squinted his eyes in warning. Steve walked over to the bed. “How-how are you feeling, Tony?”

Tony nodded. “Well, I’m not dead so, that’s good I guess.’ He shrugged once.

Steve choked. “Don’t even joke about that Tony, it’s not funny,” he reprimanded. Tony licked his lips. He wanted to say so many things.

Bucky buried his face in the engineer’s arm as is he was a cat looking for attention. “I’m so sorry, Tony, I’m so sorry.”

Tony couldn’t stand the sight of Bucky with tears flowing down his face anymore. Tony shook his head. He twisted his body, ignoring the pain once again, and took Bucky’s face in his hands. “Don’t you dare blame this on yourself. I had a choice, and I made my choice clearly, and you know what? I would do it all over again,” he urged, teeth clenched. Making sure to get his point across.

Bucky gasped as soon as his head was forced to turn to Tony. He stared deep into Tony’s chocolate brown eyes, he thought that they may be his favorite color ever. He gently lifted his hand up to stroke over Tony’s face. God, the man was so beautiful, he couldn’t believe the engineer might think any differently. A wave of staggering emotion washed over Bucky, relief, comfort, happiness, want, need, but mostly love. Love overwhelmed him at that moment, staring right then into Tony’s warm eyes that seemed to incase him and wrap him in a soft blanket.

Maybe that’s what caused him to do it. What drove him to grasp Tony’s face and finally seal their lips together. It was an innocent kiss, Bucky didn't push for more. He worked his lips over Tony’s, burying his hands in the engineer’s soft hair. Sparks and other things cooked in the bottom of Bucky’s belly.

Tony wanted to pull away, he really did. But Bucky’s lips were like magic or something because as soon as their lips touched each other, Tony thawed and short-circuited. He completely lost all control over his thoughts, actions, or desires. He fluttered his eyes shut tightly. He desperately dragged his hands over the super soldier’s back and urged him up onto the bed, up next to him. He wanted more, he begged him for more. Bucky went willingly and without a fight. He climbed on to the bed and almost leaned over Tony, resting his knuckles on the mattress. Bucky poked out his tongue and swiped it over Tony’s bottom lip, teasing him. Tony moaned, a melody that started at the base of his throat and worked its way up, Tony tried to squash it down though, so it came out more as a squeak. Nevertheless, the sound peaked Bucky’s interest. He pulled the engineer in closer by the strands of the hair that rested on the nape of Tony’s neck. But as soon as Bucky felt that Tony was tensing up his middle area, as soon as he remembered that he wasn’t allowed to take this far, he immediately pulled away. Bucky broke the kiss, but he didn’t dare pull away. They rested their foreheads together, panting. Tony’s hands rested on Bucky’s back, they were subtly quivering. 

 

All their feelings seemed to collide and coalesce at that moment, it was exposed to the air. Palpable, almost. They were one, not Bucky, and Tony. But, Bucky and Tony.

Tony was out of the body, he did not feel as though he was in his body, he was intangible particles. He did not feel pain, he did not feel sorrow, just unreal. He could not believe what had happened.

Bucky felt fragile, exposed. But, not in any kind of danger. He felt the kind of exposure that gave one instant relief afterward. Like he had finally released everything that was building up inside of him. Maybe it was because Tony was right there in his arms, alive. He couldn’t tell. He also felt dazed and glee and, like always, he felt everything. He wondered when the time would come that his feelings would completely envelop him and he’d end up doing something he’d regret.

“Steve.” A voice interrupted Bucky’s thoughts.

“What?” Bucky whispered, head still resting on Tony’s, chest still searching for breath.

“Steve,” Tony repeated, shock coloring his face.

“Steve?” Bucky spun around. Steve, the man that he owed everything to, the man who stole his heart the first day he smiled at him. Steve. The man who moved heaven, hell, Earth, and the rest of the planets to find him. Steve. The man that he couldn’t protect and shelter. Steve.

Steve was nowhere to be found.

________________

Steve left as soon as he knew where everything was leading. He wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t. He saw the look Bucky and Tony were looking at each other, saw the way they were leaving comforting touches on the other’s skin. Still, it didn’t make anything hurt any less. Knowing, and expecting, didn’t make anything hurt any less. He doesn’t think that anything could make him hurt any less. Seeing Bucky and Tony lit a fire inside him. A flame of complete and utter desire, but it also put out that flame in a matter of seconds. The thought that accompanied his desire, the thought of Tony with Bucky, and not wanting or needing Steve was the water that put out his flame in a miniscule amount of time.

Steve was crouched down, his back pressed against the wall directly across Tony’s room. His head placed on his knees. Steve was frightened. He didn’t wanna admit it. But, he was frightened, terrified in fact. Tony not wanting him anymore wrecked him in ways that he didn’t think he could ever fix. And coupled with the fact that Bucky might leave him now. Steve didn’t wanna even think about it. Bucky was all that Steve had ever. When he was skinny and needed help when he was in the army. And now. Bucky was his always. Bucky was the end of the line. And when Steve lost him, he lost everything. But he found Tony, and Tony, in his Tony-like way, made himself Steve’s end of the line too.

Steve clenched his eyes shut and pressed his palms to the side of his head. His thoughts hurt.

“You can’t ever stop being a martyr huh?”

 

Steve felt the body of another slide down the wall and sit next to him. He recognized him from his voice. Bucky’s hand rested on his knee.

“I’m not being a martyr, just facing reality,” Steve replied, not lifting his head to meet Bucky’s eyes. Steve wrapped his arm tighter around his knees.

“Don’t be daft, Stevie, please, you’re better than that.”

“Better than what, Buck!? Don’t you see?” Steve said, unraveling his body, staring up at Bucky. Bucky pulled his hand back as soon as Steve raised his voice.

“Stevie, Tony-”

“-doesn’t want me. He wants you Bucky,” Steve skimmed his eyes all over Bucky, “And it isn’t really hard to see why. You’ve been there for me my entire life Buck, my entire life. When I was sick, when I almost died which actually happened way more times than it should’ve, when I was trying to fight but ended up getting beaten until I bled out every inch of blood left within me, in the army, you were even with me when I flew that plane into the water, not physically maybe, but I knew you were there Buck, I knew. You were right,” Steve intertwined Bucky’s fingers with his own and guided his hand to place it on his chest, right atop his heart, “here,” he completed. “You’re here with me now.” Steve let go of Bucky’s hands and cupped his face.

Bucky’s hand remained rested on the blonde man’s chest, feeling the steady heartbeat.

“I can’t lose you, I can’t. I’m not going to let you go, Sweetheart, I won’t. But, Tony wants you too, he needs you. You helped him, you saved him, just like you saved me,” Steve explained, “I didn’t do that. In fact, I was horrible to him when we met for the first time. Things got better later, but, I guess he still can’t stand me. It’s understandable,” Steve explained.

Bucky was staring at Steve wide-eyed, mouth parted. He grabbed the front of Steve’s shirt and pressed their lips together. Steve wanted to cry as his chest flooded with relief.

“I love you, Stevie, you need to get that through your head. I’m not planning on letting you go either. Stop thinking like this.”

Steve sighed, resting his forehead on Bucky.

“I think you should go talk to Tony,” Bucky claimed.

Steve flinched. “He probably doesn’t wanna talk to me.”

“I talked to him. I explained what I could, but, I’m not you, so,” Bucky jerked his head to the general direction of Tony’s room. Steve shook his head, no. He rubbed his face on Bucky’s sleeve. He also curled his arms around one of Bucky’s arms, hugging it.

Bucky clicked his tongue, tired of Steve’s way of thinking. He shook Steve off, stood up, and dragged Steve up with him. He lightly pushed him to the door. Bucky grinned brightly at Steve. “Go. Please,” he begged.

Steve’s refusing face diminished, becoming one of soft and care. He reluctantly took the five steps it took to stand in front of the door. He took a deep breath and stepped inside.

_________________

The conversation Tony had with Bucky was quite… interesting. Out of all the ideas, concepts, and theories that Tony could’ve figured out analyzed and understood in one day, Steve being completely, and irrevocably in love with him was not something that he was having an easy time processing right then. Not that it wasn’t welcome, god, no, it was more than welcome, way more than welcome. Steve loved him. It just didn’t sound real. Didn’t seem that it could be true at all. But, Bucky insisted that it was. That he was the love of Steve’s life just as much as he was. And Bucky probably sent Steve in to talk to him. Bucky probably sent Steve in to- oh god, he had no idea what he was going to say.

“Tony,” Steve announced his presence.

Tony jerked his head to see the man that almost filled out the entire hole the door created in the wall. Fuck. Tony stared at the man’s face. Steve was breathtaking, there was no other way to put it. He was simply breathtaking, blonde hair, clear blue eyes, a strong jaw, a nose that Tony wanted to constantly nibble and press soft kisses on, and perfectly sculpted lips. Absolutely no flaws in Tony’s eyes. Tony felt as though his heart expanded two sizes larger like he could probably rip out his arc reactor, and he would still be able to live for a hundred more years than what is considered normal. Steve made him feel that way.

“Steve, I,”

“I don’t know what Bucky to-” They said simultaneously.

Tony sighed and smiled. He patted the bed next to him, gesturing for Steve to join him. Steve hesitantly took three steps forward and sank into the bed beside the billionaire. He rested his hand awkwardly on his knees.

“About what Bucky said, you don’t have to worry,” Steve started.

Tony hummed and bit his lips. His heart was exploding in his chest, beating so hard, pumping blood into his ears. “Bucky- Bucky s-said a lot of things. Which parts do you want me to ignore?” Tony asked, a teasing undertone in his voice.

Steve swallowed. He wiped his clammy hands on his pants. “Whichever ones aren’t very convenient to you. Or ones that you’d rather forget.”

“Do you wanna know what he said Steve?” Tony pursed his lips. Tony could tell that Steve was nervous, he could see him shaking slightly, and Steve’s eyes never met him once, he was unsure of himself.

Steve nodded tensely then shrugged. “I don’t know. Whatever you want Tony.”

Tony pulled his body up a little bit. “He said that you have the biggest hearts he’s ever seen. He said that you’ve been so worried about me ever since the lab. He thinks that you believe that me leaving in panic was all your fault,” Tony began, “Is that true?” Tony beat around the bush for a few more seconds. He didn’t want Steve to run away either. He knew what being overwhelmed could cause.

Steve clenched his eyes shut, and nodded.

Tony rested his palm on Steve’s back. Steve rose his head at the warmth that suddenly appeared on his skin.

“He also said that you,” Tony gulped, “That you’re scared that he’s going to leave you for me.”

Steve nodded. Tony dragged his palm that was placed on the super soldier’s back up and down. He was going slow.

“That’s not going to happen any time soon Steve. Bucky loves you too much, you should know that. He would never,” Tony expressed. He really regretted the kiss. 

Steve nodded once again.

“He also said that,” Tony took a deep breath, “That you love me too. But, you’re scared that I don’t want you.”

Nothing. Steve only clenched his jaw in an answer. Tony completely rose out of his semi-laying position and sat up, pushing his body next to Steve’s. This man was the dumbest man to ever exist in the billions of men that have ever existed. How could he not see? Well, could he even really claim that when Tony didn’t see either?

Tony raised his arms and turned Steve to face him. “Steve? Steve. Steve, how can you not see?” Tony questioned.

There were tears building in Steve’s eyes. This couldn’t be real, he thought. “But, the lab?”

Tony shook his head vigorously. “No, no, no, baby, no. That was not your fault, I didn’t run out because of you. It was just,” Tony tried gathering his words, “There was just too much. Up here.” He pointed at his temple. You guys were both holding me and I couldn’t handle the thought that it was just for comfort from a friend for both of you. It hurt.”

Steve laughed wryly. Tears slipping out of his eyes. This was really happening. He scooted closer to the engineer. “How long? How long have you-”

“Forever baby, forever,” Tony confirmed. Steve laughed in relief, his head falling onto Tony’s shoulder, making sure to avoid any injuries. His hands covered his face. “You?” Tony asked.

Steve cleared his throat. “Since New York.” He thought for a second longer. “No, since I first met you,” he confirmed. Tony laughed. 

 

“I thought-I thought you didn’t want me. You were avoiding me whe-when I got back and I thought-” Steve was a mess of tears.

“Ssh, ssh, shh,” Tony whispered. He lay his hand in Steve’s soft hair to calm him. “I’ve always wanted you, Steve. I will always want you. You and Bucky too now. Us three, yeah?”

Steve nodded eagerly, loving the idea of all the three of them together. He pressed the bottom of his palms into his eyes.

Tony laid back, he could deal with all the emotion shit later, right now there was one thing he wanted. He scootched to one side of the bed and opened his arms wide. “Come here, honey.”

Steve could only do as he was asked.

________________

Bucky walked in much later. He was met with a gorgeous sight that added years to his lifespan. Steve cuddled in Tony’s arms. Tony’s arms resting protectively one Steve, one laying on his head, the other on his lower back. Their legs were interlaced together, shoes kicked off to the side. Bucky smiled and he couldn’t help but feel as though things were looking up. Maybe not everything was under control or fixed at the moment, but right then, in that room, everything was okay.

________________

There was no denying the complete change in dynamic between the three men after that particular day. Tony didn’t go a day without laughing or food anymore. The super soldier’s made sure to bring him down some form of sustenance. It was either Steve or Bucky or, Steve and Bucky, that came down with food. They also occasionally stole a soft forehead kiss or two. Tony sent them back off with a hard kiss that he made sure to plant in a place that would leave them wanting more later. The three of them never slept alone anymore, after that day in the hospital bed Steve and Tony couldn’t fall asleep apart anymore, Bucky had no problem with it. In fact, having all of them warded off most of his nightmares anyways. Having both of his boys tucked under his arms, or wrapping one arm over Tony’s middle to reach Steve, and having a hand entangled in Tony’s hair, or completely burying himself against Steve trying to reach Tony, but failing to do so because of Steve’s large ass body. Steve’s favorite part of their relationship was probably their lazy days. The days that they spent doing random tasks such as trying to bake. He loved playing with the ingredients and trying new recipes, although they mostly all ended up covered in flour or frosting, then he and Bucky would take turns pushing Tony onto the edges of every table and furniture to bite and tease him, licking delicious things off his face. Steve loved days where they all sat in the living room, him wearing his glasses and flipping pages of one of Tony’s old books and not being able to concentrate because Clint, Bucky, and Tony were yelling like children while playing video games. He would try to reprimand them to be quiet, but their intense and concentrated faces were too cute for him to even think of setting them straight.

Every now and then there were hard days too. There were days where Bucky needed to be alone in the shower to gather his thoughts to remind himself that he was really there, that he was okay. That Steve and Tony were there for him, that they wanted him. The days that his thoughts threatened to spill overboard, were the worst. Those days Steve and Tony rested in their room comforting the other, assuring each other that Bucky would pull through. Tony sometimes still woke up from nightmares in the midst of panic attacks. He would never forget the time he woke up and tried to take a swing at Steve because he had convinced himself that it was Obie coming for him again to compromise him once more. He had never spent so long apologizing and crying afterward. Steve simply gathered Tony into his arms and held his head to his chest and let him cry, reassuring him that he didn’t have to apologize for anything. Steve had his days as well, his bad days consisted of flashbacks of losing the loves of his life. That meant seeing Bucky and Tony fall over and over and over again. Unlike Tony though, Steve had flashbacks in the middle of the day when the sun was still shining. The one time they were on mission and Bucky had been hurt pretty that he had to lay on the floor, was the worst for Steve. Visions of Bucky slipping through his fingers on the train invaded his thoughts and he couldn’t see anything else. Natasha and Clint had to physically drag him off so he wouldn’t be killed. Tony kept checking on him through the coms, apologizing repeatedly for not being able to be there. It wasn’t his fault he was stuck in the air blasting dumb alien’s brains.

They were together though, throughout the good days, and the bad days, they were together. That was the most important thing. They weren’t Steve, Bucky, and Tony anymore, they weren’t Steve and Bucky, and Tony, they weren’t Steve and Tony, and Bucky, they weren’t even Tony and Bucky, and Steve. No, they were Steve and Bucky and Tony, now and forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to come and rant to me on Tumblr. My username is @boy-whelmed there, come tell me what you thought. And I don't know maybe hit the follow button if you're interested?


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